What is the privacy hedge called illiagnus?

Question

What is the privacy hedge called illiagnus?

Answer 1

It's Elaeagnus, look it up, and there are lots of species.

There is an article at wikipedia, and one at dave's garden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaeagnus

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Elaea...

Answer 2

Eleagnus is the correct spelling.  It's a genus name.  The species within this genus include such plants as  Eleagnus angustifolia,  Eleagnus umbellatum, Eleagnus multiflora, etc.

with common names such as Russian olive, silverberry, autumn olive (tho that is more often a tree).  

since you didn't say where you live, I can't tell which one you are asking about.

Answer 3

You do not want Russian Olive, or Eleagnus angustifolia.  It grows into an unevenly shaped and short lived tree and is notorious for looking bad, even though it was popular to plant them in the 70's.  I think all of them have died off along with the Mountain Ash everybody used to plant.

Eleagnus umbellata or Autumn Olive, would make a nice privacy hedge.  The plant is somewhat wide for that use however.  It is very fragrant when in bloom.  It was introduced to this country by various conservation groups back in the 60's? 70's? or thereabouts.  It does produce a lot of nutritious fruits eaten by birds.

Here in Michigan this plant has gotten a bad rap from those who consider it invasive.  Basically since the birds are eating this fruit and depositing seeds elsewhere -- Aha! it is doing it's job as a wildlife plant -- many new plants have taken hold in natural areas.  Or perhaps in your neighbor's back yard, where she will not be happy trying to remove it -- it can be a little thorny.  These seedling grown plants are genetically different enough from each other that they do not "match" in growth habit or overall appearance.  This is probably a drawback in terms of the design strategy for a hedge, which should probably be more uniform.

I don't think you would too successful in finding this plant for sale in the green industry anymore.  Because it spreads, does that make it a bad plant?  Why don't we ask those birds?