Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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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.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 4–8
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate · Wet
Vertical layer
Shrub- Soil pH
- 5–8
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 5–12 ft
- Mature spread
- 6–12 ft
- Plant spacing
- 6–12 ft
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- Both
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
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American Beautyberry
Callicarpa americana
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American Black Currant
Ribes americanum
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American Hazelnut
Corylus americana
American Hazelnut is a thicket-forming shrub that bears small, thick-shelled nuts good raw or cooked, and it pollinates itself, so a single…
Shrub · USDA 4–9
American Plum
Prunus americana
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Antelope Bitterbrush
Purshia tridentata
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Shrub · USDA 3–8
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
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