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puzzlefan

Common Buckthorn in NW MI or Eastern UP

puzzlefan
19 years ago

I have heard that Common Buckthorn is considered a nuisance plant due to invasiveness. Still I would like to find some for digging. Has any gardener in the Eastern UP or NW Mich spotted these shrubs?

Comments (10)

  • Judy_B_ON
    19 years ago

    Do you mean to dig up and plant in your yard? Are you nuts? I have a small woodlot that was infested with buckthorn and have spent countless hours trying to get rid of it.

    This plant will send up hundreds of seedlings all over your property every year, will choke out ground level plants and shade out flowers. It has large black berries that the birds will eat then defecate leaving purple stains all over your clothesline, deck, driveway, sidewalk and you. If you or your children eat even one berry you will be sick for several days with vomiting and diarrhea. They are considered noxious weeds in several states: read the link below.

    Why do you want it? It has mininal flowers and does not have good fall colour. A similar sized native tree with spring flowers, attractive, tasty, edible berries, great fall colour and attractive winter bark in the service berry.

    Here is a link that might be useful:

  • joepyeweed
    19 years ago

    you can certainly have all of the buckthorn from my woodland that you would like, but only on one condition.... you must take ALL of it with you and guarantee that it wont grow back ;-)

  • chuckr30
    19 years ago

    Can someone describe these shrubs? Are they the ones with 2" long thorns all over them?

  • Judy_B_ON
    19 years ago

    Chuchr30

    No, Buckthorn has dark glossy leaves and tiny "thorns" at the end of branches. The tree with long thorns is likely hawthorn. Hawthorn is much better behaved, has nice big white flowers (funny smell though) and small apple like fruits.

    See the link below for pictures on hawthorn from the USDA data base. On the same site you can search for pictures of buckthorn or see the link I posted above.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of Hawthorn

  • joepyeweed
    19 years ago

    here is a link with a good description and some pics of buckthorn

    Here is a link that might be useful: buckthorn factsheet

  • puzzlefan
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    The Hawthorns sound interesting and may be easier to find. Is there one species in particular that would have long thorns which it retains throughout the year plus flowers?

  • Judy_B_ON
    19 years ago

    The native hawthorns all retain their thorns throughout life, have nice spring flowers (they smell weird though) and apple like fruit in late summer. They are prone to the same scab type diseases that apples get and usually lose their leaves in late summer.

    There are many species and they hybridize with each other. Corkspur and dotted and common in this area.

    An easy native tree to find in commercial nurseries is Serviceberry, which has nice white flowers in early spring, edible berries in mid to late June, good fall colour and does not suffer from many diseases.

    At nurseries, unless you shop at native plant nurseries, you will likely find English hawthorn, even more prone to disease than the natives.

    Here is a link that might be useful:

  • Judy_B_ON
    19 years ago

    Here is a link to service berry

    Here is a link that might be useful:

  • Roland_ON
    19 years ago

    There are three types of rhamnus around here. All are bad. However hawthorns are great trees. They look good when flowering and the berries stay on all winter long. Good for wildlife, Many varieties but they are slow growing and hard to grow from seed.

  • katiedear
    16 years ago

    I chopped buckthorn bushes and trees all last summer and then had a company haul away all the mess. They were invasive and the thorns were dangerous. These are considered weeds here and they strangle other vegetation.

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