Around 20 years ago this wonderful matriarch in church brought a pie for one of the socials. She took care of a number of these elderberry bushes at home. It was a special pie in that I had never heard of elderberries. Personally, I still think that they taste a little like blueberries. This fruit was amazing. Don’t ever turn down an elderberry pie if you have an option to have a piece. I have found that these elderberries are not widely known, but everyone that I know that has tasted these berries has loved them. From what I can see over the years this elderberry is loved by a variety of different wildlife, which will provide some competition.
From my own experience I can seriously say to my reader who asked me for help with this wonderful plant a person who wants to grow them in Summit County will have success with a modest amount of effort. The only trial is that there are 25 different species around the world and at least six different cultivars of Elderberries and each of these have different requirements to some extent.
There are a number of different nurseries in the area that do raise elderberries. I have grown two different elderberries in my yard with success over the years. For me I think of this plant as more of a medium to tall shrub because it can grow from 5 to 12 feet tall. This compound leaf shrub does the best in moist soils but will tolerate dry soil, soil pH does not have much effect on this shrub, but grows suckers very well, because it grows stolons like strawberries.
You will have to prune this shrub regularly for this plant to do well. Over the centuries elderberry has been grown in hedges to access the fruit. Challenges to elderberry are a variety of borers, cankers and leaf spots, which can be serious to these plants. If you wanted more elderberry plants, you can propagate them by cuttings and seeds. Sambucus canadensis or American elder is considered a native bog plant found from Nova Scotia to Florida to Texas originally introduced in 1761 from Europe.
Sambucol a wonderful cold, cough and fever treatment an Israeli medication that we can find here in the U.S. has as the base Sambucus nigra leaves or fruit. What you can do is make a tea of the drupe or berry and some of the dried leaves as treatment even for the flu and other virus based diseases.
At the Kibbutz Aza in Israel many people in the Kibbutz came down with the flu so they tested Sambucol. Twenty percent of these flu sufferers showed significant relief of fever, muscle aches and other symptoms within 24 hours, 73 percent felt better after the second day, and in three days 90 percent were completely cured.
Many cultures have used this elderberry or sambucus nigra fruit as a juice for treating tonsillitis. This sambucol stimulates the immune system and has shown success against Epstein-Barr, herpes, and even HIV. If you make a tea out of the dried leaves you may find help for arthritis, inflammation, viruses and cancer. The flavonoids in elderberries are high in anti-oxidants such as vitamin C, which has 87 percent of the RDA, Vitamin A with 17 percent RDA, and includes iron, potassium, vitamin B6 and lots of beta carotene. Flowers from the elderberry can be used as an antiseptic wash or poultice to treat wounds or eye inflammations.
Elderberries are also a favorite among many birds for many reasons. Just think there are 120 different species of birds that have elderberries on their menus according to one author that is a great source of information. Robins will start eating elderberries early before they are ripe. You will need to cover this shrub with some form of fabric before they ripen. Warblers, grosbeaks, and goldfinches prefer to nest in Elderberry. When I have designed bird friendly gardens I have always included Elderberry as one of the plants I love for the birds.
Have a good stroll through your garden this week. It seems that my Soapwort and Voodoo Lily are about done. Some of my viburnum’s fruit are ripening into a red drupe. Elderberries should be coming on. If you have any questions as you walk through your garden email me at ewlarson546@yahoo.com, I shall do the best I can to help. Soon I shall begin posting these columns for comments and leave a link at my website www.Ohealthyfoodcoop.org. Thank you for your participation in my column.
Eric Larson, a Jeromesville-based landscape designer, writes the weekly A Stroll Through The Garden column.