A hedge? A crop? A beautiful foliage plant? All this and more come to those who grow Autumn olive, says Mark Diacono. When you move house, it may be that a much-loved record or book stays hidden in one of those boxes in the attic that, despite best intentions, stays unopened for months. You know you have it somewhere and that you will be reunited at some point, but you feel its absence.
I have the same feeling with particular plants that were in my previous home, which, this summer will finally be added to our new garden. Autumn olive ( Elaeagnus umbellata ) is one such. Its common name comes from the time of fruiting and the leaves’ resemblance in colour and form to those of an olive.
Native to the wooded hills of Japan and China, this beautiful deciduous shrub is somewhat revered and its fruit widely eaten there. As much as I love the fruit, the pleasure of its long, olive-like foliage catching the light and dancing on the breeze is as much a reason to grow it. The leaves — green uppers, with silver beneath — appear in early spring, three months at most after last season’s have fallen to the cold.
The pale-yellow flowers that appear in early summer are (as is the fruit that follows) about half an inch across, borne in clusters along the branches’ length. As with quince, their gorgeous fragrance is elusive: you can bend to smell them and get nothing, only to be enveloped in a cloud of its perfume as you walk away. The fruit appears by mid-summer, ripening to a live.
