Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Elderberrries are pretty easy to grow and tolerate drought better than many other fruits. The
flowers (also edible) are large white umbrels, resembling Queen Anne's lace but much larger, often
as big in diameter as a dinner platter. The fragrant white flowers give way to huge clusters of dark
purple, nearly black berries. And while the berries can never be said to be sweet, they do have a
unique flavor particularly well suited to wine and jam.
These sprawling elderberry bushes have large clusters of flowers that are already starting to turn to berries
in a few places on the bush.
(Photo courtesy of Tatiana Gerus)
Harvest berry clusters when they are ripe by simply cutting them off at the stem. You can easily use
cheesecloth to strain out the seeds and leave the juice for syrups, wines, and jams. Watch out for
birds that will literally flock to your harvest and may beat you to it if you aren't careful.
Pruning is easily done by simply cutting back the oldest canes each year, leaving half a dozen of
the new, strong-looking stems. An established elderberry bush can even survive being accidentally
mowed down with the brush hog.
Named cultivars have been developed for tolerance to various regional climates, as well as produc-
tivity, flavor, or size of the berry clusters. For example, Black Beauty does best in cooler climates
and has pink flower blooms, while Wyldewood has huge berry clusters and ripens later in the
season making it better suited to southern growing areas.
Mulch newly planted shrubs to smother out weeds until the plants are well established. Trouble
free, disease resistant, and drought tolerant, elderberry is a great addition to the landscape if you're
able to give them room to spread.
