Best and worthy Sea Buckthorn Varieties?

Orange Revolution is a new selection from the breeder Volodimir Mezhenskiy. It is supposed to be one of the best but extremely hard to get even in Europe. Glory to Ukraine and its breeders!

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Does this plant hybridize with any existing species in North America?

It’s a different genus than any it’s closest relatives native to North America the buffaloberries Shepardia so probably not

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Thanks for your reply. I try to keep it native or will hybridize with native (functionally the same species). With introduced species I worry about potential invasiveness and displacement of native species.

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Food for though: Ability to hybridize with native isn’t necessarily better than simply non-native with no close relation to native species. If a non-native readily hybridizes with native species then it can cause the pure species to be displaced by hybrids. Of course this is just worse case scenario as sometimes hybrids will prefer different habitats from either parent, but still something to add to your thought process. Ability to hybridize does not mean they are functionally the same species. Many species which are functionally quite distinct from each other in terms of morphology, ecosystem roles and environmental preferences are still able to cross with each other when given the opportunity.

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Inunderstand your point but disagree. If two organisms from different areas can produce hybrid offspring, it is just expanding the local genome. The environment and competition will determine whether the extra genetic information confers any benefit in the local context. In some cases, that could be beneficial, such as conferring resistance to indtroduced diseases or insects.

The same can be said for non native species that are in a different genus than any north American ones.
It seems very capricious and intellectually inconsistent to use that as your metric for whether something should be planted or not

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A well-respected grower on Facebook told me that Golden Sweet and Sirola taste like mango and pineapple (I don’t remember which flavor is from which variety), so those and a male are what I ordered from Burnt Ridge this year.

If they grow well for me, I might get Tatiana for its high oil content. I’ve read that the Russian cosmonauts used the oil as a sunscreen. Does anyone else know about topical uses for seaberry oil?

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ive read that they use the oil in makeups.

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I have a few Orange Revolution plants here (southern France) and was able to taste the fruits this year. For me they don’t have any advantage over the latvian varieties which so far are the best growing/producing in my conditions : Sunny (Botanicheskaya Lubitelskaya), Mary (Marija Bruvele), Gold Rain (Prozrachnaja). I’ve tested close to 20 varieties so far and those are the best in terms of growth and production, even though I have tried others with better tasting fruits, but that ended up dying or growing poorly. They are crossed between h. rhamnoides rhamnoides and h. rhamnoides mongolica. Mongolica is better tasting, larger fruits, etc, but more susceptible to fungal disease and doesn’t do well with mild/wet winters, so for me the sweet siberian varieties don’t succeed in my conditions. One exception has been Podruga which I’m still trying to decide on, taste is very good and plants have been doing better than all other russian varieties, but it’s definitely not as virogous and hardy as the Latvians. I also have Sirola and another promising variety called Aromatnaya but haven’t tasted the fruits yet, hopefully next year.

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Nice to read of your experiences, What nursery are you purchasing these varieties from?

I don’t have space for the sizes you guys are describing, however I’ve been ever intrigued in growing this plant. As I’m coastal and I’m sure they’d enjoy the soil, the heat here however not so much. One day I’ll get one if I can find a good price, can’t see the almost 50$ for one female plant that will likely succumb to my summer heat. 20-30$ for an experiment I can see letting one live or die for that. I agree with the grafting of a male branch on its east side since we have a lot of eastern wind (mostly swirling, but south southeast is the main direction)

Enjoying reading all of your experiences. As someone mentioned, I think @EliindaUP goji berry phoenix tears is terrible. However I managed to eat a few each year just due to the benefits of the berry. But it’s not palatable at all.

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I’ve purchased from different varieties over the years. To my knowledge one of the only nurseries offering Orange Revolution is Cornusmas.eu.

The Latvian varieties we got directly from a large producer in Latvia (Aust.bio). We are now selling small numbers to customers in France (not Orange Revolution as it is protected) to try and get the fruit better known as the only cultivars traditionally available have only been local or German varieties that aren’t very good taste wise when you compare to russian or hybrids.

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