I have an unnamed variety of black elderberry that I grew from a cutting. I knew nothing about elderberries except that I wanted to make the syrup for cold prevention, It is 5 years old now and at least 15 feet high. As I can no longer climb ladders, the birds get the top half of the berries (AND any aphids) and I still get almost 10 pounds. That is way too much for the amount of syrup I need as a single person, so I freeze at least half for making either more syrup, some jam, or sharing with others. They can also be used to make healthy gummies if your child doesn't like to take syrups.
Thanks for sharing Harriette, may I ask what zone you live in? I am in zone 5 and wondering if they are that prolific in the home garden and not just in the mountains.
@@MyHumbleNest Hi, Janet. I live in California, zone 10a, on the warm side of the SF Bay. Elevation here is only about 50 ft. and the elderberry is in my tiny back yard forest garden next to a huge bay tree.
You can just cut it to the ground during the Winter and it'll send up new, reachable branches in the Spring. You'll also have like a hundred cuttings to use, sell, or giveaway.
@@paul.1337 Can't do that. The birds in the neighborhood have decided that the elderberry is one of their favorite foods and the top of the bush/tree is just the perfect place to survey the rest of my garden for goodies.
I’m in the U.K, have well draining soil, probably alkaline as I’m sitting on chalk. I have an unknown variety of black elderberry in the back of the garden, which this year, is currently being enjoyed by the birds. I’ve never tried making jam or syrup with elderberries, but my dad makes wine with the flowers and the berries when he can. I hadn’t planned on pruning it, but seeing this, I’ll add it to the list of trees and shrubs to prune this year!
Hi, I happened to come to your channel and listened to you talking about your plants and garden and I found your information is crystal clear with soothing talking style. Some of the garden videos I've watched, the person who spoke always with very tense or too much excitement or too fast. I can sit all day listen to you, what a good speaker you are. Though I share different plants from your area, but still I love to know more about what other people had in their garden, especially those who are gave a calming feeling. Thank you for sharing and I'm glad I click.🥰
We had native huckleberries (Vaccinium parvifolium) in our backyard when I was a kid. It was one of the plants I uniquely remember, literally growing out of an old stump.
Elderberries are native in our area (Sambucus nigra spp. canadensis). They can actually get quite "weedy" as they like to colonize, but for us those are bonus plants that we don't have to plant! We love them and we grow extra for the birds. Thank you as always for sharing your knowledge.
I love elderberries! I do have some for food and some for beauty. Here in Sweden my family have eaten elderberries for ages! I just love them! They are a big part of my foodforest!
My mom had a black elderberry bush in our backyard that she brought from Wisconsin as a cutting--from one it my grandma's yard. I made syrup from it the summer before my dad sold the house (sadly, I wasn't living where I could take cuttings to propagate). It was the best tasting syrup! I have no idea what variety it was.
Sometimes seeing your videos I forget that you are in your backyard it seem like you are in a jungle forest… what a blessing and a magical way to get away from the busy city life..thank you for the videos ❤️
I just moved into my new house today, and discovered I have an elderberry. It needs some love and I think there is only one. Glad I know that I need two now. Thanks!!
Thanks for this elderberry info! I had planted three 2 yrs ago. One died & 2 have hardly grown at all so I was considering giving up on elderberry. Olympia, WA full sun location. Now I might just try different plants in a different location.
So happy I watched this video. I have 5 young elders on my 1/5th an acre. LOL One is at the 3 years mark and it needs to be trimmed, Would you be willing to post a trimming for production video this fall?
Thanks! I am looking to plant Elderberries in my back yard. I don't really like the taste but would love to get the health benefits. We currently buy bottles of syrup at the health food store and it is like $30 a bottle. We like mixing it in with other juice and can drink it that way.
In Denmark soup from elderberries is a traditional dish - it is served with either apple slices, a sort of small "dumplings", or crushed unsweetened biscuits. It tastes amazing on a cold winter's night. Btw most name cultivars in Denmark don't need foreign pollinators - you can easily have only one shrub, eg 'Samyl'.
@@elisabethabildtrup2270 Thanks. The lady at a nursery told me that if I didn't have enough room to let them go without pruning, I shouldn't get elderberries at all. I keep seeing gardeners and farmers pruning theirs though. It's hard to know from vague articles how many feet I can consistently prune them back. If I got a variety that reaches 8ft wide, could I reasonably contain it to a 5x5 space? Would it sucker more if I pruned it that much?
@@melissamybubbles6139 Elder doesn't sucker. You don't prune them to the height you want. You prune the tallest branches at their base a few inches above ground. And leave the branches that have a height that suits you. Always prune at the base unless you want to coppice or pollard your trees/shrubs.
Great ideas and information. Love the reminders about 'new tastes' we may need to get used to. Thanks for the comment about ladybugs following the 'pest'.
I’ve been looking for a good variety to plant in my backyard. We enjoyed the elderflower syrup we bought some time ago. I didn’t know they can grow that high so will definitely consider that for the location.
Wow yeah Ive heard they'll grow 8-10ft but by the size of the trunks on yours I believe they could get 20ft. Mine are young now a row of John, Adams and black lace elderberry
We like in Tigard (Bull Mountain) and our most of our gardenable area is heavily shaded. I do have one spot in the back yard that gets partial sun most of the day but only a couple of hours or direct sun. I grow my tomatoes there and do get tomatoes but I get more leaves then tomatoes. I am interested in more of what I could grow that we would eat. I grew up in Texas - lots of sun and heat so learning what to do in Oregon has been a slow learning process.
Also, we have well established ornamental plum in the front yard and I am interested in grafting something edible onto it. Have you ever done that? I just recently thought of the idea and found the HOME ORCHARD SOCIETY but was sad to see it closed shop last year. I guess my timing was off.
I Live in rural Eastern Oregon, zone 4. Elderberry are everywhere in the woods around here. I plan to take some cuttings this fall and over winter them in sand in my sunroom and plant in the garden next year. The freezing idea is genius. I was hoping to make wine using the natural yeast on the berries. Would freezing kill the yeast so you think? Thanks for your channel.
Note to self: need 2 different varieties of elder berries in order to get fruit.. as the canes mature they decrease in fruit production so coppace them
Has anyone pruned theirs into a tree form? Has anyone here tried a Ranch or Marge elderberry? The Ranch is supposed to be partially self-fertile, drought tolerant, and smaller than most, about 5-6 feet tall and wide. The Marge variety is supposed to be self-fertile, be pretty drought tolerant, and produce fewer suckers than most varieties. Supposedly, it only gets 6-8 feet tall and wide. I'm not sure I believe the claims of being small, but hopefully one of them would stay a bit smaller than the regular varieties? I definitely don't have room for anything bigger than about six feet wide, preferably five feet wide, unless I rip out a lot of other things.
I have an unnamed variety of black elderberry that I grew from a cutting. I knew nothing about elderberries except that I wanted to make the syrup for cold prevention, It is 5 years old now and at least 15 feet high. As I can no longer climb ladders, the birds get the top half of the berries (AND any aphids) and I still get almost 10 pounds. That is way too much for the amount of syrup I need as a single person, so I freeze at least half for making either more syrup, some jam, or sharing with others. They can also be used to make healthy gummies if your child doesn't like to take syrups.
Thanks for sharing Harriette, may I ask what zone you live in? I am in zone 5 and wondering if they are that prolific in the home garden and not just in the mountains.
@@MyHumbleNest Hi, Janet. I live in California, zone 10a, on the warm side of the SF Bay. Elevation here is only about 50 ft. and the elderberry is in my tiny back yard forest garden next to a huge bay tree.
You can just cut it to the ground during the Winter and it'll send up new, reachable branches in the Spring. You'll also have like a hundred cuttings to use, sell, or giveaway.
@@paul.1337 Can't do that. The birds in the neighborhood have decided that the elderberry is one of their favorite foods and the top of the bush/tree is just the perfect place to survey the rest of my garden for goodies.
I believe Nova and York are American elderberry cultivars.
Thanks!
Thank you!
I’m in the U.K, have well draining soil, probably alkaline as I’m sitting on chalk. I have an unknown variety of black elderberry in the back of the garden, which this year, is currently being enjoyed by the birds. I’ve never tried making jam or syrup with elderberries, but my dad makes wine with the flowers and the berries when he can. I hadn’t planned on pruning it, but seeing this, I’ll add it to the list of trees and shrubs to prune this year!
Hi, I happened to come to your channel and listened to you talking about your plants and garden and I found your information is crystal clear with soothing talking style. Some of the garden videos I've watched, the person who spoke always with very tense or too much excitement or too fast. I can sit all day listen to you, what a good speaker you are. Though I share different plants from your area, but still I love to know more about what other people had in their garden, especially those who are gave a calming feeling. Thank you for sharing and I'm glad I click.🥰
Check out the channel EdibleAcres if you want another great calm gardener :)
We had native huckleberries (Vaccinium parvifolium) in our backyard when I was a kid. It was one of the plants I uniquely remember, literally growing out of an old stump.
Thank you.
Elderberries are native in our area (Sambucus nigra spp. canadensis). They can actually get quite "weedy" as they like to colonize, but for us those are bonus plants that we don't have to plant! We love them and we grow extra for the birds. Thank you as always for sharing your knowledge.
I love elderberries! I do have some for food and some for beauty. Here in Sweden my family have eaten elderberries for ages! I just love them! They are a big part of my foodforest!
My mom had a black elderberry bush in our backyard that she brought from Wisconsin as a cutting--from one it my grandma's yard. I made syrup from it the summer before my dad sold the house (sadly, I wasn't living where I could take cuttings to propagate). It was the best tasting syrup! I have no idea what variety it was.
Sometimes seeing your videos I forget that you are in your backyard it seem like you are in a jungle forest… what a blessing and a magical way to get away from the busy city life..thank you for the videos ❤️
I just moved into my new house today, and discovered I have an elderberry. It needs some love and I think there is only one. Glad I know that I need two now. Thanks!!
Thanks for this elderberry info! I had planted three 2 yrs ago. One died & 2 have hardly grown at all so I was considering giving up on elderberry. Olympia, WA full sun location. Now I might just try different plants in a different location.
So happy I watched this video. I have 5 young elders on my 1/5th an acre. LOL One is at the 3 years mark and it needs to be trimmed, Would you be willing to post a trimming for production video this fall?
Thanks! I am looking to plant Elderberries in my back yard. I don't really like the taste but would love to get the health benefits. We currently buy bottles of syrup at the health food store and it is like $30 a bottle. We like mixing it in with other juice and can drink it that way.
In Denmark soup from elderberries is a traditional dish - it is served with either apple slices, a sort of small "dumplings", or crushed unsweetened biscuits. It tastes amazing on a cold winter's night.
Btw most name cultivars in Denmark don't need foreign pollinators - you can easily have only one shrub, eg 'Samyl'.
That sounds amazing!!
Yummy! Are there any self-fertile varieties that stay reasonably small, about as wide as a tall person's height?
@@melissamybubbles6139 I don't know if you can find some dwarf variety but if not you can easily prune them back to the size you like.
@@elisabethabildtrup2270 Thanks. The lady at a nursery told me that if I didn't have enough room to let them go without pruning, I shouldn't get elderberries at all. I keep seeing gardeners and farmers pruning theirs though. It's hard to know from vague articles how many feet I can consistently prune them back. If I got a variety that reaches 8ft wide, could I reasonably contain it to a 5x5 space? Would it sucker more if I pruned it that much?
@@melissamybubbles6139 Elder doesn't sucker. You don't prune them to the height you want. You prune the tallest branches at their base a few inches above ground. And leave the branches that have a height that suits you. Always prune at the base unless you want to coppice or pollard your trees/shrubs.
Blessings to all!
Great ideas and information. Love the reminders about 'new tastes' we may need to get used to. Thanks for the comment about ladybugs following the 'pest'.
I have St. Johns and Adams in the south
Freezing them first is a great idea.
I’ve been looking for a good variety to plant in my backyard. We enjoyed the elderflower syrup we bought some time ago. I didn’t know they can grow that high so will definitely consider that for the location.
Wow yeah Ive heard they'll grow 8-10ft but by the size of the trunks on yours I believe they could get 20ft. Mine are young now a row of John, Adams and black lace elderberry
We like in Tigard (Bull Mountain) and our most of our gardenable area is heavily shaded. I do have one spot in the back yard that gets partial sun most of the day but only a couple of hours or direct sun. I grow my tomatoes there and do get tomatoes but I get more leaves then tomatoes. I am interested in more of what I could grow that we would eat. I grew up in Texas - lots of sun and heat so learning what to do in Oregon has been a slow learning process.
Also, we have well established ornamental plum in the front yard and I am interested in grafting something edible onto it. Have you ever done that? I just recently thought of the idea and found the HOME ORCHARD SOCIETY but was sad to see it closed shop last year. I guess my timing was off.
I've planted wild garlic Allium ursinum in a shady part of the garden. They're doing well. Will have to lift and divide to encourage them to spread.
Last year I made elderberry wine, which is very delicious.
Oooh yes!!! It’s on my list of things to make sometime!
Try an apple/ Elderberry pie.
I Live in rural Eastern Oregon, zone 4. Elderberry are everywhere in the woods around here. I plan to take some cuttings this fall and over winter them in sand in my sunroom and plant in the garden next year. The freezing idea is genius. I was hoping to make wine using the natural yeast on the berries. Would freezing kill the yeast so you think? Thanks for your channel.
Enjoyed your video! do you have a elderberry syrup recipe?
Could you harvest chokecherries in a similar way?
Note to self: need 2 different varieties of elder berries in order to get fruit.. as the canes mature they decrease in fruit production so coppace them
Has anyone pruned theirs into a tree form? Has anyone here tried a Ranch or Marge elderberry? The Ranch is supposed to be partially self-fertile, drought tolerant, and smaller than most, about 5-6 feet tall and wide. The Marge variety is supposed to be self-fertile, be pretty drought tolerant, and produce fewer suckers than most varieties. Supposedly, it only gets 6-8 feet tall and wide. I'm not sure I believe the claims of being small, but hopefully one of them would stay a bit smaller than the regular varieties? I definitely don't have room for anything bigger than about six feet wide, preferably five feet wide, unless I rip out a lot of other things.
what do you think about the native red elder berries, i just recently planted one in my back yard and am exited to see it take off.
It's recommended to treat the red elderberry as ornamental poisonous plants.
@@melissamybubbles6139 ok
Red huckleberry update ??