Autumn Olive Shrub Growth Stages

Characteristics

• This shrub has a leaf with a shimmery appearance, grayish-green on top and silvery scales underneath. The flowers are a cream color and bloom in early spring, producing a red speckled berry.

Reproduction

• Autumn olive shrubs reproduce by seeds, and a single plant can produce as many as 200,000 seeds. Birds are attracted to the fruit it bears and carry the seeds quite a distance.

Young plants

• A young autumn olive plant can be identified by twig-like sprouts with tiny buds. Stems of the plant are occasionally thorny, speckled brown and somewhat silvery-gray in color.

Rapid growth

• Autumn olive shrubs grow from 4 to 6 feet per year and spread as far as 10 feet in just one summer.

Benefits

• Autumn olive shrub has been known to be beneficial to the black walnut tree. The shrub's nitrogen-fixing capabilities appear to increase the height of commercially grown black walnut trees.