Sea Buckthorn (Seaberry) vs Purple Leaf Sand Cherry - TreeTime.ca

Sea Buckthorn (Seaberry) vs Purple Leaf Sand Cherry

Hippophae rhamnoides l.

Prunus x cistena

COMING SOON

(new stock expected: fall of 2025)

CUSTOM GROW

Sea Buckthorn (Seaberry)
Purple Leaf Sand Cherry

Sea Buckthorn, aka Seaberry, is a nitrogen fixing shrub that produces attractive berries high in vitamin C.

While we can't confirm claims that the berries are effective in treating various ailments, many people believe consuming the berries helps with arthritis, infections, and asthma, among other things.

Sea Buckthorn plants have attractive pale silvery-green leaves, dense branches, and large thorns, people like to grow in ornamental hedges or as a first row in a shelterbelt.

Note: these plants typically reach maturity and make their sex easily known (females producing fruit) in their 3rd or 4th year of growth. Our seedlings are too young to identify their sex.

Purple Leaf Sand Cherry provides bright reddish-purple leaves that turn bronze-green in the fall. In the spring, tiny flowers with a pinkish white hue bloom. The flowers are small, but the impact comes from the shrub blossoming all at once.

The Purple leaf sand cherry can be susceptible to pests and diseases in more humid areas; a typical life span is approximately 15 years. Not suitable for a privacy hedge on its own but is often alternated with lilacs. Often used as an accent plant that attracts birds and bees.

Sea Buckthorn (Seaberry) Quick Facts

Purple Leaf Sand Cherry Quick Facts

Zone: 2b
Zone: 3a
Height: 5 m (15 ft)
Height: 1.8 m (6 ft)
Spread: 4 m (12 ft)
Spread: 1.8 m (6 ft)
Light: full sun
Light: any
Moisture: dry, normal
Moisture: dry, normal
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: medium
Life span: medium
Life span: short
Suckering: high
Suckering: low


Toxicity: the leaves and seed are slightly toxic
Foliage: slender silvery-green leaves
Foliage: purple leaves
Fall colour: dark red
Bark: dark red to purple
Flowers: pinkish
Fruit: dark red fruit
Berries: small, edible
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no

In row spacing: 0.9 - 1.2 m (3 - 4 ft)

Between row spacing: 5 m (16 ft)
Other Names: sallowthorn, sandthorn, seaberry
Other Names: purpleleaf sandcherry