Very cool! We’ve got Autumn Olives (Elaeagnus umbellata) all around here. The downside is that they can be invasive. The upside is that they are an incredibly good bush to have. The red berries are great tasting and highly nutritious consumed raw or cooked. They are nitrogen fixers as well which is, of course, a great contribution to the forest garden. I’m glad I am in the habit of not cutting plants and bushes down until I’ve identified them. I discovered long ago that far too many plants are likely to be useful and that cutting them down without knowing is usually a mistake. My forest gardens just got better and I didn’t have to do a thing!
Plants for a Future, an excellent plant database, has an entry for Autumn Olive.
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Thank you. I have these trees all over my farm as well and have been trying to identify them. How exciting to know they are edible. buzzardroost.wordpress.com
Gorgeous. I made jam from them this week, 2lb berries,cup of water to cook them in,strain out the pips and skins add 3lb sugar,(add pectin – optional) boil and voila!
Beautiful jam!