Elder

Light and exposure

Elder grows happily in full sun or in part shade, it really isn’t fussy. In a hedge or as a stand-alone shrub at the bottom of the garden, it flowers and fruits best with at least half a day of sun; in the deeper shade of a woodland edge it still grows, just with fewer flowers and berries.

It is a natural coloniser of banks, verges and waste ground, so it doesn’t need any special spot to settle in. Just give it a bit of room, as a mature plant quickly reaches three to four metres across.

Watering

Once established, elder more or less looks after its own watering, even through a dry summer. Its deep roots keep finding moisture long after other shrubs start to look thirsty.

Only the first year after planting needs any real attention: water a young plant once or twice a week during dry spells, until it has built up enough of a root system to fend for itself.

Soil and repotting

Elder likes cool, fairly rich soil, especially anything high in nitrogen. It’s no accident that you so often find it near old farmhouses, manure heaps or ruins: it’s a nitrogen-loving plant that thrives on that kind of enriched ground.

In practice it tolerates almost any soil, from heavy loam to something stonier, as long as it isn’t bone dry all the time. Poor soil will simply give you a slightly less vigorous shrub.

Temperature and humidity

Fully hardy in any temperate climate, elder shrugs off winters down to -30 °C, USDA zone 4, and late spring frosts without any trouble at all. No protection is needed, even young plants cope fine with a damp winter.

Heat isn’t a problem either: it comes through a hot summer without any real stress as long as its roots keep a bit of moisture down below. That is its only real limit, a long drought rather than a temperature: beyond zone 8, plant it in a cool bottom or on the side shaded in the afternoon.

Pruning and upkeep

Elder grows fast, really fast, and can be cut back hard in late winter, before the buds break. Don’t hold back on cutting overgrown branches right down: it resprouts from almost anywhere, even from a stump cut nearly to ground level.

This yearly cut keeps its vigour in check and renews the wood, since young shoots flower the most freely. In an informal hedge, a lighter trim every year or every other year is enough to keep a pleasant shape without sacrificing the flowers.

Pests and diseases

Elder has few real enemies. Elder aphid (Aphis sambuci), black and sticky, sometimes builds up in large numbers on young shoots in spring, curling the leaves at the tips of branches. Garden helpers, ladybirds especially, usually clear it up without any intervention needed.

Powdery mildew can show up in hot, dry summers as a white felting on the leaves, but it’s no real threat to such a vigorous shrub. Beyond these minor niggles, elder remains one of the toughest, easiest shrubs to grow in the garden.

Propagation

Cuttings are by far the simplest, most reliable method. In winter, take a woody one-year-old shoot twenty to thirty centimetres long and plant it straight into the ground, buried about halfway: it takes almost every time, no rooting hormone or heat needed.

Elder also suckers readily from the base and from shallow roots, throwing up new shoots around the parent plant that you can lift and replant elsewhere. Growing from seed works too, and the birds do most of that job for you anyway, but it takes a lot more patience before you see the first flowers.

Toxicity

Toxic when raw. The raw berries, as well as the leaves, bark and stems (all the green parts), contain cyanogenic compounds that cause nausea and digestive upset if eaten. The berries only become edible once cooked, as syrup, jelly or jam: cooking destroys these compounds. The flowers, on the other hand, can be eaten safely, raw or cooked. Take care never to confuse black elder with dwarf elder (Sambucus ebulus), a related herbaceous plant that is even more toxic and carries its berry clusters standing upright rather than hanging down.

Month-by-month care calendar

Green Hub tips

• Never eat the berries raw, or the leaves and bark: only cooking, into syrup, jelly or jam, makes them edible and destroys the toxic compounds.
• Make the most of a double harvest: flowers in early summer for syrup, berries in late summer for jelly, and the shrub won’t suffer if you leave plenty for the birds.
• To propagate an elder for free, plant a simple twenty-centimetre cutting half-buried in winter: it takes almost every time with no special care at all.
• Never confuse the woody black elder with dwarf elder, a herbaceous plant that’s far more toxic, whose berries point upwards instead of hanging in loose clusters.