CanyonCreek

Thank you- The Pacific NW Indian summer has truly been a blessing - an acquaintance of a friend gifted us with an apple press so we're breaking it in well this fall!

Amazing seaberry harvest this year- DH is determined to save time by juicing the seaberries "in one fell swoop" in the apple press. Mixing with apple juice to sweeten (probable sugar or honey, too:)

3-4 feet--they tend to grow up so probably need to shape by pruning for more of a bush shape.

About 8' (we bought them in gallon containers 4 years ago)--not nearly as full this year as in the past because of transplanting. The leaves are silvery-green and the thorns are on the second "woody" growth. Bushes are deciduous so not so good as a privacy hedge although they'd be a deterrent because of the thorns.

We transplanted the seaberries to a fence line this spring but the slower, cold growing season this year plus the transplanting has taken it toll since the bushes are not nearly as full as in previous years. This morning DH and I discussed their value as a living fence compared to prolific, but invasive, blackberries which cover our western property line. Either the seaberries or blackberries would be a deterrent except to the determined with a good machete. The seaberries are definitely easier to keep contained than blackberries. We will transplant new growth, especially from the female plant which berrries. The berries remind me of large orange huckleberries, but seriously tart!

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A few years ago, I planted sea buckthorn bushes--also called seaberry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea-buckthorn). It's originally from the Mediterranean area where it's sometimes referred to as "Russian orange juice." The berries are very tart & have a high vitamin C content and other medicinal uses as well. I'm going to try my hand at juicing the harvest this fall.