Elderberry
Sambucus nigra
Hedgerow elder whose froth of bloom feeds clouds of beneficials.
- Type
- Fruit · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Foliage color
- Green
- Flower color
- Purple and violet · White
- Sunlight
- Full sun to part shade
- Watering
- Moderate
- Soil
- Moist, fertile
- Feeding
- A mulch of compost in spring is usually all it asks for.
- USDA zones
- 3a–9b
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- May
- Pruning
- Take the oldest stems out each winter.
- Plant out
- at the last spring frost
- First harvest
- 120 days after the last spring frost
- Harvest ends
- 14 days before the first fall frost
- Mar–Mar Bud Break
- Mar–Jun Spring Growth
- Jun–Jun Flowering
- Jun–Jul Fruit Set
- Jul–Sep Harvest
- Sep–Oct Growing
- Oct–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Mar Leaf Fall
- Plant spacing
- 8 ft 2 in
- In-row spacing
- 6 ft 7 in
- Between rows
- 9 ft 10 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
- Root system
- Woody and fibrous
- Working depth
- 12–24 in
- Can reach
- 3 ft down where the soil allows
- Spread
- 15–20 ft across, about 1.5–2× the width of the plant
- Shallowest pot
- 20 in of soil
A shallow woody framework with the fine feeding roots in the leaf litter above it. Those feeders are mostly under the outer half of the canopy rather than against the stem, which is where water and feed should go.
It suckers from the base and roots from any stem lying on damp ground, so a bush left alone becomes a thicket. Both habits make it easy to propagate and hard to keep to one plant.
The habit is Elderberry’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.
- When
- Late August to September in the UK/northern US (elderflowers in June are a separate harvest). Wild and planted bushes crop from year 2–3.
- What to look for
- Whole umbels of berries deep purple-black and glossy, the cluster stems reddening and the heavy heads turning to hang downwards. Any cluster with green or red berries isn't ready — pick whole heads only when uniformly black.
- How to harvest
- Snip entire flat clusters (umbels) at the main stalk with secateurs into a bucket, then strip berries off with a fork (or freeze the heads first — frozen berries rattle off cleanly). Discard all stems, leaves, and unripe berries.
- How often
- One to three picks over 2–3 weeks as heads ripen in succession; race the birds, who strip bushes fast.
- Storing the crop
- Highly perishable raw — process within a day or two. Important: raw elderberries (and all stems/leaves) contain cyanogenic compounds and can cause nausea — always cook before eating. Destined for cordial, syrup, wine, jelly, and hedgerow jams; berries freeze well for later cooking.
- Aphids Blackfly
- Leaf spot Fungal leaf spot
- Elder leaf blister
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Aphid midge Aphidoletes aphidimyzaHunts Aphids
A tiny midge whose orange maggots paralyze aphids and drink them dry, twenty or more each. Sold as a greenhouse biological control and resident outdoors wherever there are small nectar flowers and an unsprayed aphid colony to find.
- Assassin bug ReduviidaeHunts Aphids
A patient ambusher with a curved beak it drives into whatever it catches — caterpillars, beetles, bugs, and the occasional bee, so count it a generalist rather than a specialist. It will jab a careless finger too, so admire it and leave it be.
- Big-eyed bug Geocoris spp.Hunts Aphids
A stubby 3 mm bug with enormous wrap-around eyes, working the soil surface and the low foliage for aphids, mites, thrips and insect eggs. It is the main natural check on chinch bugs in a lawn and it is killed outright by insecticide.
- Damsel bug NabidaeHunts Aphids
A slender, mantis-armed bug that grabs aphids, small caterpillars, and thrips in low crops and meadowy edges. Leave a strip of unmown grasses and flowers for it to overwinter in.
- Dragonflies & damselflies OdonataHunts Aphids
Aerial hunters that take mosquitoes, midges and small flies on the wing all day, and whose larvae spend a year or more clearing the same insects from the water. A pond with planted margins and no fish is the way to have them.
- Garden birds PasseriformesHunts Aphids
Both things are true: birds strip your currants and a brood of blue tits takes several thousand caterpillars out of one fruit tree in a fortnight. Net what you must and welcome them everywhere else — a nest box near the apples is worth more than a spray.
- Green lacewing Chrysoperla carneaHunts Aphids
Its bristly larvae — "aphid lions" — impale aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and mite colonies, eating hundreds a week. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from small open flowers and overwinter in hollow stems left standing.
- Hoverfly SyrphidaeHunts Aphids
Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.
- Ladybird (lady beetle) CoccinellidaeHunts Aphids
The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.
- Minute pirate bug Orius spp.Hunts Aphids
A pinhead-sized true bug that is the best natural check on thrips, and happily spears aphids, mites, and insect eggs too. It needs pollen when prey is scarce, so keep something flowering nearby.
- Parasitic wasps Braconidae & TrichogrammaHunts Aphids
Tiny, stingless wasps that lay eggs in or on caterpillars, aphids, and moth eggs — the white cocoons riding a hornworm are their calling card, so leave that caterpillar be. Umbel flowers with shallow nectar keep the adults fuelled.
- Praying mantis MantidaeHunts Aphids
A sit-and-wait ambusher that snatches caterpillars, beetles, and anything else that wanders close — friend and foe alike, so count it a mixed blessing. Tall, structured plantings give it perches and egg-case anchors.
- Soldier beetle CantharidaeHunts Aphids
Soft-winged beetles seen mating on flower heads in high summer; adults and larvae both take aphids and soft grubs. Open composite flowers are their landing pads and hunting grounds.
- Spiders AraneaeHunts Aphids
Webs, ambushes, and night patrols make spiders the garden’s steadiest generalist predators, taking whatever flies or crawls past. Mulch, ground cover, and undisturbed corners keep the population dense.
Comfrey, Nettles, Wildflowers
Good neighbors
Cook elderberries before eating — raw berries, leaves and stems are mildly toxic.
Green-leaved fruit, like this one.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com