Shrub · Adoxaceae
Elderberry
Sambucus canadensis
Hand it sun, steady moisture, and a partner cultivar close by, and elderberry pays you back with heavy clusters of dark fruit.
Full sun
Every 3–7 days
USDA 3–9
5–12 ft · 1.5–3.7 m
Overview
Elderberry is a quick-growing, good-natured shrub that pulls its weight twice a year, throwing wide creamy flower heads in June and then dark berry clusters that color up from August into September. Part of the genus Sambucus, it runs wild over much of North America, favoring damp ground and the margins of fields. Let it go and it reaches 5 to 12 feet (1.5 to 3.7 m), spreading every bit as far into a multi-stemmed thicket.
Tough and undemanding, the plant takes winter cold across zones 3 through 9 and brushes off thin soil, soggy ground, and partial shade. One rule stands above the rest, so learn it early: only the fully ripe berries, and only once cooked, are safe to eat. Leaves, stems, bark, roots, and any raw or unripe fruit pack cyanogenic compounds that sicken people and animals alike.
Plant it for fruit and you'll want a second cultivar standing close, since a single shrub sets only a sparse crop. Two different cultivars blooming together pollinate one another and pack the canes with berries. Give it space, keep the water coming, and prune it hard each winter, and an elderberry rewards you quickly.
Care
The short version: full sun to part shade in rich, evenly moist soil, with a balanced spring feed, a hard dormant-season pruning each winter, and a second cultivar nearby for a full crop.
Light
Elderberry crops hardest in full sun, where the big flower heads and berry clusters fill out completely. It puts up with partial sun and even partial shade, but every step into shadow trims the harvest you can count on.
Water
Hold the soil evenly moist, since the shallow, fibrous roots run dry quickly and the plant feels every shortfall hardest while flowering and fruiting. Soak it deeply through any dry stretch, every 3 to 7 days as the weather calls for, while keeping the ground from sitting waterlogged.
Soil
Set it into rich, moist, well-drained loam, although elderberry forgives plenty and takes to clay, sand, and ground that swings wet or dry. It works across a broad pH span of 5.5 to 7.5, so most garden soil will serve it.
Temperature
This shrub is hardy through and through, riding out winter cold to -29°F (-34°C) and summer heat to 95°F (35°C). That spread carries it through most temperate gardens with no fuss at all.
Humidity
Run-of-the-mill humidity in the 40% to 70% band covers all it asks, and outdoor air seldom comes up short. Crowded, motionless air does open the door to powdery mildew, so moving air counts for more than moisture does.
Feeding
Feed it just once in early spring as growth stirs, using a balanced or nitrogen-rich blend such as 10-10-10 or composted manure. A single seasonal feeding does the job for a plant this driven.
Pruning
Prune through the dormant season, in late winter. On settled plants, take the dead, weak, and 3-plus-year-old canes down to the base to drive the vigorous 1 to 2 year wood, and some growers just cut the whole plant flat to the ground each year. Yank root suckers along the way so it doesn't go wandering.
Repotting
Elderberry wants the open ground, not a pot, so repotting hardly comes up. If you do hold one in a container, shift it on before the roots start to circle, or it stalls and droops soon after each watering.
Size & spacing
A grown plant rises 5 to 12 feet (1.5 to 3.7 m) and fans out close to the same, 6 to 12 feet (1.8 to 3.7 m). Hand each shrub generous elbow room so air can flow through and mildew stays off.
When to plant
Elderberry keeps time with the seasons. Plant dormant bare-root stock or cuttings in early spring once the hard frosts let go, look for the creamy flower heads come June, and gather the dark, ripe berries from August into September.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: Late winter, only after 60-90 days of cold-moist stratification; seed is slow and erratic, so cuttings are preferred
- Plant: Early spring after the last hard frost, using dormant bare-root plants or cuttings
- Harvest: Flowers in June; dark berry clusters ripen August to September
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 3–9
Temperature: down to -40°C
Troubleshooting
Elderberry takes a lot in stride, and most of its troubles stay minor. Powdery mildew and aphids dent the looks far more than the plant, while cane dieback and raiding birds call for faster moves. Find what you see below and step in before a small snag spreads.
One cane collapses while the rest grow on strong
A single cane giving up while its neighbors flourish points to cane borers or fungal dieback working through old or damaged wood. Slice the failing cane off right at the base and get rid of it. Renew the plant every year with a dormant prune, clearing anything over 3 years old, and you head this off before it can settle in.
Fix:
- Cut out and destroy affected canes at the base
- Remove old (3-plus-year) and damaged canes during dormant pruning
Leaves dusted with a chalky white layer
You're looking at powdery mildew, a fungus that moves in wherever growth crowds together in shade and the air goes stagnant. Open the plant up by thinning and pruning the canes, pull off the worst of the affected leaves, and turn to a labeled fungicide or horticultural oil only if it keeps marching. A vigorous shrub shrugs it off and loses nothing but a little good looks.
Fix:
- Thin and prune canes to improve air flow
- Remove and dispose of badly affected leaves
- Apply a labeled fungicide or horticultural oil if severe
Tender shoot tips turning sticky and curling under tiny bugs
Those little crawlers are aphids, and they pile onto the soft new growth that a heavy nitrogen feed keeps pushing. Knock them loose with a sharp jet of water first, then bring in insecticidal soap or horticultural oil for any stragglers. Leave the lady beetles and lacewings alone and they'll mop up whatever remains.
Fix:
- Spray off with a strong jet of water
- Apply insecticidal soap or horticultural oil
- Encourage lady beetles and lacewings
Clusters disappearing the moment they take on color
Birds beat you to ripe elderberries every time and can clean out a cluster in hours. Throw netting over the plant as the fruit starts darkening and pick whole cymes the instant they color up. Lean on the cultivar Bob Gordon as well, since its clusters tip over and dangle where birds work harder to reach them.
Fix:
- Net plants as fruit begins to ripen
- Harvest whole cymes promptly when berries darken
- Grow cultivars with drooping clusters such as Bob Gordon
Toxicity
Here is where elderberry asks for real respect. The leaves, stems, bark, roots, and any raw or unripe berries pack cyanogenic glycosides that free cyanide and upset the stomach, and they harm people and animals alike. Only fully ripe berries that have been cooked are safe to eat, so keep children, pets, and livestock clear of every green part of the plant.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Safe for
People
Cats Moderate
Chew on the leaves, stems, or raw berries and a cat will typically drool, then bring it back up, with diarrhea and a dull, sapped mood close behind. The genuine danger comes from a large mouthful of green plant, since the cyanide set free can leave a cat weak.
Dogs Moderate
After a dog raids the plant, expect vomiting, diarrhea, a turned-up nose at dinner, and a slump in energy. The usual outcome is a queasy gut, yet a generous mouthful of raw berries or foliage can drive the symptoms harder.
Horses Toxic
Leaves and woody parts spell trouble for a horse, and the cyanide they release can surface as drooling, colicky discomfort, strained breathing, and a stumbling gait. Fence elder well clear of any pasture or paddock a horse can get into.
Rabbits Toxic
Never hand a rabbit the foliage, stems, or raw berries. Just a nibble of the green plant can stall the gut and send a rabbit downhill fast, so keep the entire shrub somewhere they cannot get to.
Livestock Toxic
Cattle, goats, and sheep grazing the leaves or unripe fruit risk cyanide poisoning, which at its worst brings bloat, trembling, and collapse. Wilted prunings flung over a fence give stock an all-too-easy route to harm.
Birds Caution
Wild birds tuck into the ripe berries without a hitch and scatter the seed as they go, one reason the plant fruits so generously. The green parts and the raw, unripe fruit still carry cyanide, though, so caged birds should get none of it.
People Cooked ripe fruit safe
Ripe berries that have been cooked make a safe, well-loved kitchen staple, and cooked or processed flowers work nicely too. Raw, the berries along with any leaves, stems, bark, or roots bring on nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, so cook the fruit and bin every green part.
Keep children and pets from chewing leaves, stems, bark, or unripe berries. Never eat raw berries or any green parts; always cook ripe berries and discard stems and leaves before eating.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
Most home growers settle on a short list of proven cultivars, and since the plant wants a pollination partner, they tend to go in two at a time. Here are the ones worth knowing by name.
Adams
A strong old American selection prized for big fruit clusters, and gardeners typically pair it with York so the two trade pollen.
York
Few cultivars give you berries as large as York does, and it pairs up as a dependable pollinizer for Adams.
Bob Gordon
A high-yielding cultivar out of Missouri whose clusters tip over and hang down as they ripen, tucking a fair portion of the fruit beyond a bird's easy reach.
Sambucus nigra (European black elder)
Counted here as an alias, this European species shoots up taller and more tree-shaped, and it parents many of the ornamental and medicinal selections.
Companions
Elderberry's most useful neighbor is another elderberry. A second cultivar that blooms at the same time is what turns a light crop into a heavy one.
Plant near
A second, different elderberry cultivar (for example Adams with York): Cross-pollination between two cultivars that bloom at the same time increases fruit set and yield.
How to propagate
Few shrubs multiply as readily as elderberry, and three of the four routes barely let you fail. Most growers pass on seed and take free copies straight off a plant they already grow.
Stem cuttingsEasy
Hardwood cuttings in late winter while dormant; softwood cuttings in early summer · Roots in a few weeks; transplantable within one season
Reach for cuttings first, because nothing starts an elderberry faster. Cut pencil-thick lengths carrying 2 or 3 nodes, hold them evenly moist, and roots break within a few weeks. A cutting you take this year will be ready to set in its permanent spot by season's end.
DivisionEasy
Dormant season, late winter to early spring · Establishes within one growing season
Elderberry sends up rooted suckers all around the parent clump, so you can lift and divide them right while the plant sleeps. Every division arrives with roots of its own and digs in across a single growing season.
LayeringEasy
Spring to summer · Roots over one season before severing
Those long, bendy canes make layering a breeze. Peg a low cane down onto the soil from spring on through summer, let it spend a full season rooting where it presses the ground, and snip it loose as a fresh plant.
SeedDemanding
Sow after 60-90 days of cold-moist stratification · Slow and erratic; 1-2 or more years to a plantable shrub
Seed asks for patience you rarely need to spend. It demands 60 to 90 days of cold, moist stratification before a sprout shows, comes up unevenly, and keeps you waiting 1 to 2 years or longer for a plantable shrub. Seedlings drift from the parent too, so cuttings win when you want a named cultivar to stay true.
Myths
Every part of an elderberry is deadly poison, so none of it can be eaten.
Cook the ripe berries and flowers and they become a much-eaten food with deep roots in the kitchen and the medicine chest. Only the leaves, stems, bark, roots, and raw or unripe berries are toxic, and a good cook on the ripe fruit settles the matter.
Ripe elderberries are fine to eat straight off the bush.
Berries that are raw or unripe carry cyanogenic glycosides that leave you queasy, retching, and running for the bathroom. They are safe only after cooking, which is exactly why nobody grazes them fresh by the handful.
One elderberry bush is enough for a full crop.
Standing solo, a plant is only partly self-fruitful and ends up setting a sparse crop. Plant two or more cultivars that bloom at the same time and watch the fruit set and yield take off.