Which...?

I have been wanting to plant an Elderberry bush in my yard. I want to use the berries and feed the birds. My choices are:

Black Beauty- Beautiful color, catalogs say lemon scented flowers? but do they get a lot of berries?

Black Lace- Great foliage, does it have lemon scent too? No description says. Also, good for berries?

Blue Elderberry- Probably ungainly and too large, but boy, it looks like a great host plant for birds. Scented?

I have straight species elderberry in my yard -- sambucus canadensis. Yes, it can be gangly and it suckers like mad, but I can more or less keep in in bounds and since its in a border that is very naturalized as acts as a screen between my yard and the gravel road, the habit is really just fine with me. It's in full bloom right now and just beautiful. There's kind of a vanilla-y scent to the blossoms The branches will be weighed down with fruit later in the summer and the birds do, indeed, gorge themselves. Be careful what you hang out on the clothesline to dry when the elderberries are ripe.

MaryMD7, do you have any problems with seedlings popping up in your yard as a result of the birds eatting the fruit? I have a spot for such a suckering beast, but would prefer not to have to hunt and distroy too many seedlings, Already having enough of a workout from the Mulburry albas that have successfully invaded my property...

Patrick, bird-sown seed has not been a problem with the elderberry, but "suckering beast" is an apt term.

Thanks, sounds like a winner! I have a very steep bank that borders three sides of my one acre 'ditch'. I want to add a variety of large suckering shrubs that will grow up and block the view of the road, and as an added bonus, feed the wild life. The area is 3/4 day sun and a bit windy, soil sandy loam. What do you think?

Thanks for the input, MaryMD7 andPatrick3852! I am thinking maybe the "black" hybrids or cultivars might not be so apt to seed or sucker???

I just fell in love with the color of the blue elderberries. I think it isn't practical, but gosh, look at it! Can you whack them back and still get flowers and berries?

http://www.fvcc.edu/academics/botany/biol200/images/Blue%20elderberry.jpg

I picked up Black Lace this year. For my zone it is close to a dieback shrub which means not much spreading.

I am either in your zone or pretty close, depending on the year, Al.

So, does it have fragrance, and lots of flowers and berries, or is it too early for you to know? Also, do you have it in a moist, dry or average soil?

It is pretty small yet, it adds a new set of leaves a couple times a week.
I have it in full sun and average soil.
I really liked Sutherland's Gold - that is for some shade though.
I saw Black Beauty around cheap too.

I am totally accruing purple leafed plants for some reason.

I think you got me zonewise - we get to -15 here in winter now and then.

We are more like -8 some winters, but once you get below zero, it all feels the same to me!

Sutherland Gold as I recall is a red elderberry, which is poisonous I think.

I had a small patch of elderberry at my old house. I found this out from playing around with my winter pruning. If in the late fall you take your freshly pruned branches and push them deeply into soft ground, they will root. This might be a way for some of you to get some started for free by pruning some roadside colonies, or for making a small patch larger.

Scott

Ooh... great idea Decumbent!

Good point, Scott, although once you have s. canadensis, you probably won't need much help in making the patch bigger. ;-) S. canadensis also seems to tip root pretty well.

My friend's mom makes wild elderberry wine and wine jelly... another added bonus!

I can't wait. to try making it! Although it always reminds me of "Arsenic and Old Lace" where the old ladies poison all their visitors with Elderberry wine....