Sea buckthorn

Sea buckthorn: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Thorny shrub of 1–4 m, often in groups thanks to its suckers.

Leaf

Alternate, 3–7 cm, linear; grey-green above, silvery-scaly below.

Bark

Branches with sharp thorns; young twigs silvery brown.

Flower

Inconspicuous greenish-brown flowers in March–April, before the leaves; separate male and female plants.

Fruit

Orange, sour berries (6–8 mm) crowded along the branches, rich in vitamin C; only on female plants.

Difference from oleaster

Oleaster is evergreen, with broader leaves and no thorns.

Difference from osier

Also silvery leaves, but no thorns and no berries.

Flowering: March–April · Harvest and fruit: August–October · Pruning: February–March

Identify by feature: Long, narrow leaves · Orange berries · Thorns or prickles

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Oleaster Elaeagnus: evergreen, broader leaves and no thorns. Difference from oleaster
• Osier Salix viminalis: silvery leaves, but no thorns and no berries. Difference from osier

Why grow it?

• Silvery-grey leaves and orange berries: a striking shrub from summer into winter.
• Sour berries for juice, syrup and jam, very rich in vitamin C.
• Tough: tolerates drought, sea wind and poor sandy soil, and fixes its own nitrogen.
• Berries for thrushes and thorny shelter for birds.

Sea buckthorn: where does it grow best?

• Full sun: in shade it languishes and bears few berries.
• Dry, free-draining soil such as sand; no heavy, wet soil.
• Allow 3 m width, and more: the suckers pop up metres away.
• Ideal for a coastal garden, a bank or a thorny hedge; less so for a small garden with borders.

Light

Full sun

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Dry

Size

3 m tall, 3 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Burnet rose: A low, native dune rose for the same dry, sandy soil.
• Dog rose: Blossom in June and hips in autumn: together a thorny hedge for birds.
• Wild privet: Native dune shrub with white flowers and black berries.
• Blackthorn: White blossom in early spring and blue sloes: thorny and native too.

Good and bad companions

Best kept away from

• Do not plant under the dense crown of these trees: norway spruce, european silver fir, nordmann fir, douglas fir, yew, horse chestnut, norway maple, sycamore

Sea buckthorn: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March, as a young pot-grown plant or bare-root.
2. Plant one male for a group of five or six females: the wind carries the pollen.
3. Buy named plants: female varieties such as ‘Leikora’ or ‘Hergo’ and a male such as ‘Pollmix’. With a seedling you don’t know what you’ll get.
4. No manure in the planting hole: it fixes its own nitrogen.
5. Put in a root barrier if you want to keep the suckers in check.

Care

Watering

Only in long dry spells during the first year.

Feeding

Not needed: nodules on its roots take nitrogen from the air.

Suckers

Spade off suckers that stray outside their spot; wear thick gloves.

Harvest

In September–October, cut off branches with berries and put them in the freezer: frozen berries are easy to knock off.

Tip: Press the berries raw and mix the sour juice with apple juice or honey: it softens the taste and keeps the most vitamin C.

Sea buckthorn: when to prune it?

Pruning months: February–March.

When: End of winter, or straight after harvest.

How:

• Little needed: remove dead, weak and overcrowded branches.
• If you harvest by cutting off branches with berries, that doubles as light pruning. The berries grow on last year’s wood, so don’t cut everything off.
• Spade off suckers that spread too far.

Caution: Wear thick gloves and long sleeves: the thorns are sharp.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Suckers

In winter, spade off a rooted sucker from a plant whose sex you know, and replant it elsewhere.

Hardwood cuttings

In winter, push 20 cm lengths of one-year-old shoots into sandy soil; they will be the same sex as the parent plant.

Sowing

Sow the seeds outdoors in autumn. Seedlings are male or female; you only find out when they flower.

Sea buckthorn: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• Leave some berries: thrushes and other birds eat them in winter.
• In winter you can tell the plants apart by their buds: male flower buds are large and conical, female ones small.

Diseases and pests

• No berries: No male plant nearby, or the plant is itself male. Young plants only bear fruit after three or four years.
• Suckers: They pop up metres away, even in the lawn. Spade them off or put in a root barrier.
• Wet soil: On heavy, wet soil it languishes and dies. Choose a dry, sunny spot.
• Hard to pick: The berries cling tight and burst when picked. Cut off the branches and freeze them.

Through the year

• February: Pruning: remove dead and overcrowded branches.
• March: Flowers before the leaves; last month for pruning and planting.
• April: The silvery-grey leaves unfurl.
• August: Berries turn orange.
• September: Harvest: cut off branches with berries and freeze them.
• October: Finish the harvest; leave some berries for the birds.
• November: Planting; spade off suckers.
• December: Last berries for the thrushes.

What can you use it for?

Food and drink

The sour berries for juice, syrup and jam; very rich in vitamin C.

For wildlife

Stabilises dunes and fixes nitrogen; the berries are winter food for thrushes.

Garden and landscape

Silvery-grey, thorny hedge for sandy soil on the coast.

Caution: For berries you need a male and a female plant. Produces lots of suckers.

Edible and useful

Berries (August–October)

The orange berries are ripe from late August to October. They sit tightly packed on thorny branches and burst easily. The handiest method: when pruning a female shrub in your garden, cut off twigs laden with berries, freeze them, then shake or tap off the frozen berries. Very sour and aromatic, they are used for juice, syrup or jelly, or mixed with sweeter fruit such as apple. Lovely in yoghurt, smoothies or a sauce for game or fish.

Storing

Frozen berries keep for months in the freezer. Juice and syrup can be frozen or poured hot into clean bottles.

Caution: Do not pick sea buckthorn in the dunes: they are protected nature reserves and the berries are winter food for birds. Wear sturdy gloves against the thorns. You can recognise sea buckthorn by its narrow, silvery grey leaves and orange berries packed tight against the twig; do not confuse them with the orange seeds of the poisonous spindle.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Sea buckthorn syrup (Syrup · ± 750 ml · 30 min)
• Sea buckthorn and apple jelly (Jelly · ± 3 jars · 1 hour + 3 hours draining)
• Sea buckthorn liqueur (Liqueur · makes ± 1 litre · 20 min + 6 weeks infusing)
• Sea buckthorn and orange sorbet (Dish · serves ± 6 (750 ml) · 30 min + 4–5 hours freezing)

Good for wildlife

Birds

Berries, seeds or insects as food, or a place to nest.

Did you know?

• Sea buckthorn fixes nitrogen from the air and binds the dunes with its suckers. The berries are a feast for thrushes.
• Hippophae means ‘shining horse’: in ancient Greece horses are said to have been fed the leaves to give them a glossy coat.
• Sea buckthorn oil, used in skincare, is pressed from the berries and seeds.
• Hippophae comes from the Greek hippos, ‘horse’, and phaos, ‘shine’: the ancient Greeks believed the leaves gave horses a glossy coat.
• Strictly speaking, bacteria fix the nitrogen: Frankia bacteria live in nodules on the roots and trade nitrogen for the plant’s sugars.