Plant · P-156

American Elderberry

Sambucus canadensis

American Elderberry gives two harvests a year - creamy flower clusters in June for cordial, fritters and tea, and purple-black berries in August and September for pies, jams, jellies, wine and syrup, arriving right when little else is cropping. Every part except the ripe, cooked fruit is mildly toxic - leaves, stems, roots and unripe berries contain compounds that cause nausea and vomiting, so green berries are a real hazard for a child grazing along a hedge. It wants consistently moist, slightly acid ground and fruits best in full sun, tolerating some shade at the cost of the crop. Birds eat and spread the seed everywhere they perch, so a planted shrub becomes a volunteer hedge along fencelines and pond edges on its own - free labor if that is welcome, a decision worth making before the first one goes in.