Silver buffaloberry

Sun

Full sun; tolerates light shade, but flowers and fruits less freely.

Water

Low once established; water regularly during the first growing season and during prolonged drought while establishing.

Soil

Well-drained sandy, gravelly or loamy soil; tolerates poor, alkaline and moderately saline ground. Avoid persistently wet soil.

Height

8-15 ft (2.4-4.6 m), occasionally taller

Spread

8-15 ft (2.4-4.6 m), spreading farther by suckers if unchecked

Flowers

Small yellowish flowers in early spring, before the leaves; male and female flowers occur on separate plants.

Foliage

Narrow, opposite leaves covered in silvery scales on both surfaces; deciduous.

Growth

Moderate to fast once established

Care needed

Low

• Pollinators
• Drought tolerant
• Cold hardy
• Wildlife

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Easy

Toughness

Very tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   1.6 ft (0.5 m)

2. After 1 year

   4 ft (1.3 m)

3. After 2 years

   7 ft (2 m)

4. After 3 years

   9 ft (2.8 m)

5. After 5 years

   11 ft (3.5 m)

   full size

About 4 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Mildly toxic: may upset a stomach

Native to

the US and Canada

In the garden

Spreads vigorously: plan to contain it.

Growth rate

Fast

• Water deeply during the first growing season, allowing the soil surface to dry between waterings.
• Skip routine nitrogen feeding; this shrub supports nitrogen-fixing bacteria in its roots.
• Mulch lightly over the root zone, keeping mulch away from the stems.
• Remove unwanted suckers promptly if you need to contain the clump.
• For berries, plant a confirmed male near female plants; seedlings may take several years to reveal their sex.

Pruning. Prune in late winter while dormant, removing dead, damaged or crossing branches and a few of the oldest stems at ground level when renewal is needed. Avoid routine shearing, which removes flowering wood, and wear thick gloves around the thorns.

Pick fully coloured red berries in late summer or autumn; they should detach readily, and their sharp flavour often mellows after frost. Use gloves and collect by hand or gently shake ripe fruit onto a sheet; the fruit is usually cooked into jelly or sauce. Expect a first substantial crop roughly 3-5 years after planting young nursery plants, sometimes longer from seed, provided a male pollinator is nearby.

Late winter

Remove damaged branches and thin crowded older stems while the shrub is dormant.

Early spring

Plant while dormant where soil is workable; water thoroughly and apply a light mulch.

Spring

Check flowering plants for male and female flowers if you are planning a fruiting group.

Summer

Water young plants during dry spells and remove unwanted suckers.

Late summer

Begin checking berries for full colour and easy release; leave some for birds.

Autumn

Finish harvesting ripe berries and plant dormant nursery stock where winters and soil conditions allow.

• Plant as an informal boundary or shelterbelt where thorny, suckering growth has room to develop.
• Combine with prairie grasses and flowering perennials for silver foliage against fine-textured planting.
• Use on sunny, dry banks to form a dense colony and help hold soil.
• Include male and female plants in an edible hedgerow, away from narrow paths and play areas.

Garden styles it suits: Wildlife garden, Native hedgerow, Desert / xeriscape, Midwest prairie, Edible landscape and Homestead.

Plant it with: Little bluestem, Prairie dropseed, Purple coneflower, Yarrow, Rubber rabbitbrush and Saskatoon serviceberry.

Wildlife: Flowers provide early pollen and nectar for insects. Birds and mammals eat the berries, and the thorny branches provide nesting sites and shelter.

• Poor fruit set: provide both male and female plants, grow them in full sun and avoid heavy pruning of flowering wood.
• Unwanted suckering: cut out new shoots regularly or reserve the shrub for a broad, informal planting.
• Root decline in waterlogged ground: improve drainage or move the plant to a better-drained site.
• Leaf spots or rust: remove badly affected fallen leaves and thin crowded growth to improve airflow; minor spotting rarely needs treatment.

Ripe fruit is edible to people, usually cooked, but contains saponins and may cause stomach upset if eaten raw in large quantities. It is not generally known as a poisonous plant for cats, dogs or horses, though species-specific safety information is limited; do not encourage pets or livestock to eat large amounts. The thorns can cause puncture injuries.

Where it spreads. Spreads by root suckers and can form broad thickets within its native range in western and central North America. This can be aggressive in a small garden, but suckering alone does not make it a listed invasive species.

• Canada buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis)

  Usually smaller and thornless, with greener upper leaf surfaces and rusty-brown scales beneath; silver buffaloberry has conspicuously silver leaves on both sides and thorny branches.

• Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia)

  Has alternate rather than opposite leaves, fragrant flowers later in spring or early summer, and yellowish, olive-shaped fruit rather than red berries.

• Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)

  Has alternate, very narrow leaves and orange berries clustered tightly along the stems; silver buffaloberry has opposite leaves and usually red fruit.

Shepherdia honours the British botanist John Shepherd, while argentea means silvery, referring to the foliage.

Propagation. Sow cleaned seed outdoors in autumn for natural winter chilling, or use a suitable cold-stratification treatment before spring sowing. Rooted suckers can be separated during dormancy; take them from a plant of known sex if fruit production matters.

Accepted botanical name

Shepherdia argentea

In the US and Canada

Native in Canada and the lower 48 states.

Native range

Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota and Montana.

Measured

Average height 469 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.