I was driving past the orchard this weekend and decide to see what’s in season. Nothing much really as the best time to visit is in the fall. That’s when all the fruits are ripe and ready.

In summer, everything is still young and green, from pistachios to pomegranate. I didn’t have a chance to snap a good photo as it was near closing time.

What took me by surprise was seeing the berries on the seabuckthorn bush. So I finally got the chance to taste fresh seabuckthorn berries.

The berries are super sour! Tasted just like lemon. It’s amazing how a tiny little fruit can pack such a sour punch. And inside these little berries was a hard little seed.

Seabuckthorn really does have lots of thorn. So picking out the little fruits, just to sample was scary. The thorns are very sharp and pointy.

These fruits are also known as seaberry. They are now fruiting at the International Fruit Orchard located at Emma Prush Farm in San Jose, Ca.

I just love seabuckthorn, despite the “thorn” part of it. Last spring I ordered 2 Seabuckthorn plants from a nursery in Oregon. During the summer months, they were looking good.

By September, both plants were losing leaves and the male plant was history. But the female plant was still branching out on the side. For what is suppose to be resilient plants, they sure are difficult to grow.

Anyway the female plant didn’t look so well as the leaves eventually fell off. But I still had hope. And to my surprise, this spring it is full of leaves! Now I can say this is my 3 year old seabuckthorn plant.

I didn’t plan to get anymore plants because they were expensive, about $20 for each plant plus shipping of $18.95. Then I saw Gurney’s had some Seabuckthorn for the same price. Female plant $19.99 and 3 male plants $19.99. But their shipping price was way more reasonable.

The plants all arrived nicely packaged. But they looked more like twigs with buds. I guess they call it “dormant” plants. I’ll probably be keeping them all in the containers until they get big enough to put in the ground.

Another way to get rare fruits is to join the California Rare Fruit Association. Membership is $41 per year and includes a color magazine, tastings, garden tours, free grafting and pruning classes. They usually have annual plant sales too. I really don’t have the time or space right now. Maybe in my golden days.

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Back in spring I planted 2 Seabuckthorn (seaberry) plants. Sadly the male plant didn’t make it. And I didn’t think the female would make it either. Now this is all I have of the female plant. I was able to save the female plant by moving it into a pot.

What happen is all the leaves started to fall off over the months. Then this little branch started to grow from the side.

I’m still wondering if I should re-order the male plant. But it will cost me at least $40 to get a new plant and that is too much for my gardening budget. So I’m going to grow them from seed or cutting.

At this point I would be happy with just one plant with lots of leaves. At least I could make healthy tea with them.

I’ve been wanting to grow Seabuckthorn for years now.  So I finally reserved 2 plants in the fall. They came all the way from a nursery in Oregon.

Seaberry is such an amazing plant that bears healthy orange berries. I hope to make jelly, tea, and other yummy stuff with them. But that may take at least 3-5 years to see any fruits from these plants.

The female plant has more leaves and is 2 years old.  The male plant just has tiny little brown buds and it’s 1 year old.

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I love seabuckthorn for it’s highly nutritious berries and leaves.  I’m counting the days until the arrival of my own seabuckthorn or seaberry bush next month. In the meantime I’ve been admiring these seabuckthorn plants at the San Jose International Fruit Orchard.

Here’s a photo of the tip of the male seabuckthorn. The leaves are much smaller than the female bush.

And this is the female seabuckthorn. I think this may be the little berries, but we’ll find out by end of the year.

There were lots of giant big thorns which would make picking the fruits or leaves very tricky. But I did get a few leaves to make into tea.

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Sea buckthorn is also known as Seaberry and Siberian pineapple. I really wanted to start growing my old sea buckthorn plant this year. But it’s a bit too late now, so I’ll have to wait until spring of next year.

Here is a small sea buckthorn plant at the International Fruit Orchard. I think it’s about 2-3 years old. Maybe in a few more years there will be bright berries on them.

I picked a handful of leaves from the bush to make tea. I used the dried leaves and steeped them in hot water for about 5 minutes. It tasted very pleasant, reminded me of raspberry leaves tea. I wouldn’t mind making tea from my own sea buckthorn plant soon enough.

The Republic of Tea has green tea mixed with sea buckthorn berries. Starting at $10 for 3.5 oz tin.

“Sea Buckthorn is native to the shores of the Northern Baltic Sea in Germany where locals consume the berries to ward off cold and flu. Sea Buckthorn berries are mildly tart, like an apricot, and rich in vitamin C and E.”

Not to mention, sea buckthorn is also grown naturally in Siberia and Mongolia.

Sea buckthorn is more popular in Europe, where they make them into fruit drinks and jam. Here in the U.S., they are showing up more in the natural health and beauty department.

Since it’s a very labor intensive harvest, the cost for both oils (berries, leaves, and bark) of this plant is still very expensive.

These are my new “Seabuckthorn & Green Tea Handmade Soaps”. Since I was having so much fun with hot process soaping, I decided to make these the same way.

You can usually tell if it’s hp soap by the little bubbles around the surface. This is noticeable even when I made sure to fill the mold all the way with soap. Hot process soap is tricky in that sense.

Ingredients: Olive oil, soybean oil, coconut oil, palm oil, distilled water, seabuckthorn oil, rice bran oil, green tea powder, and green tea melon fragrance. Because they are half circle bars, they fit well in the palm of my hands.

The last Seabuckthorn soap I made was was nice and I added lots of good ingredients. Including red palm oil, which gave it the deep golden color.

For this version, I just kept it simple. Except I also added green tea powder. Green tea is making it’s mark in many cosmetic products due to it’s benefits to skincare.

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Sea buckthorn sounds more like a sea creature. But it’s really a beneficial plant originating from the mountainous regions of Russia and China.  It is a winter hardy, deciduous shrub with bright orange berries.  The plant is mature for harvesting purposes at 4-5 years.

This branch is brimming with berries.  Photo from They are also known as Seaberry, Siberian pineapple, or Alpine Sandthorn.

Sea buckthorn oil and powder is commonly used in skincare and soaps. It can also be taken internally as herbal medicine. The oil is full of are vitamins A (derived from -carotene), vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and vitamin E (-tocopherol). If taken internally, it is full of antioxidants and is good for your intestinal tract too.

Sea buckthorn oil is mainly used to promote the healing of skin such as burns and eczema. It also helps improve skin condition, especially with dryness and wrinkles. Sea buckthorn oil reminds me of other good oils such as Rose hip and carrot seed oil.

Last summer I saw real sea buckthorn bush at the International Fruit Orchard. I don’t remember if there was any fruit at all. Next time I visit, I will have to take a photo of it and try sampling some of the berries.

ln Europe the fruit is made into sauces or jellies and as a base of liqueurs. The juice is sour and has an orange passionfruit like flavor when sweetened. Blended with other fruits, or by itself, it makes a delicious juice. It is also used widely in Europe and Asia as a healing oil and for other medicinal purposes. - Raintree Nursery

They are suppose to grow well on fairly bad  or sandy soil. If possible, I would like to grow some of these at my mom’s backyard garden too. Across much of northern China, and in other countries, it is grown to prevent soil erosion. And it is also used in food and medical preparations.

Sasktchewan, Canada also has cultivated sea buckthorn that was originally brought over from from Siberia in the 1930s. Sea buckthorn oil from Saskatchewan yields a high quality product.

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