Silverberry, Wolfberry, Wolf Willow

This is a gangly shrub with leaves that are brilliantly silvered on both sides, unlike those of E. umbellatus and E. angustifolia, which ...Read Moreare olive green above. As the common name suggests, the fruit is silver and not reddish.

The foliage is beautiful, but the habit doesn't easily lend itself to garden use. It spreads underground by rhizomes and frequently suckers at a considerable distance from the parent plant.

It is native to Alaska, western and boreal Canada, and south into the Rockies and northern Great Plains. It does not long survive where summers are hot and humid.

Even in Boston, at the Arnold Arboretum this has been a slow grower.

I suspect that both comments below (and some of the geographic reports) are about different Eleaegnus species, most likely either E. umbellata or E. angustifolia, which have been commonly planted and are widely naturalized in eastern North America.

According to the exhaustive BONAP atlas, this species has been reported in only 4 states east of the Mississippi, none in New England. http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Elaeagnus commutata.png

I absolutly love this plant, but many people are under the misconception that deer will eat this plant instead of others. I have seen de...Read Moreer starve rather than eat this plant. Other than that, the foliage is just beautiful and it is a very fast grower.

This plant grows like a weed all over New England along the side of the roads. As a bush it can get rather large and seems to spread. I t...Read Morerained one into a tree in front of my house. It has done wonderful. Withstanding winter salting from the plow trucks and reqular traffic. Keeping it at seven feet has fulled the tree out in a rounded manner. Great, strong odor in the spring. It has bothered people with allergies. I have not had any issues with the tree/bush spreading.