Plant of the Week

Name: Seaberry, aka Sea Buckthorn
Latin Name: Hippophae rhamnoides
Origin: Various species native to Europe and Asia

Seaberry is a deciduous shrub that has bright orange or yellow berries. It has become increasingly popular in Europe, particularly in the Scandinavian countries. The berries are very high in antioxidants, vitamin C, and other good things. The berries are pea-sized, and held close to the branches. Unfortunately, the branches are liberally sprinkled with large thorns. As you can imagine, this makes harvesting rather difficult. In fact, I believe it is most common to harvest by pruning off the berry-containing branches and freezing them, then knocking the berries off and making juice or puree.

You need a male plant and a female plant to get any fruit. The plants are quite hardy as they are native to maritime climates. They will tolerate salty air and soil, poor soils, wet soils, and they fix nitrogen in the soil similar to legumes.

They are hardy to -25 degrees C, or -15 degrees F. I think that translates to...zone 5.