For showy flower clusters and edible berries that you (and the birds) will love, grow an elderberry bush in your yard.
How to Grow an Elderberry Bush
- Common name: Elderberry or American elder
- Scientific name: Sambucus
- Zones: 3 to 9
- Size: 5 to 12 feet tall and wide
- Soil: Average to wet soil
Plant an elderberry bush in full sun or partial shade, and be prepared for it to lure tons of wildlife. Give this highly adaptable shrub plenty of room to spread and grow. This luxurious shrub features long, arching branches, fragrant flowers and edible berries.
Although it prefers full sun and moist soil, it tolerates wet and even dry soil once established. You can use this suckering plant to help stabilize slopes and riverbanks. Regular pruning will keep it looking its best.
Cultivars like Black Lace and Lemony Lace add fine texture and color to the landscape.
Benefits of Elderberry Bushes
Showy white flowers in early summer provide nectar for butterflies and bees. The blooms are followed by tasty, dark purple berries appearing in late summer. Elderberry is self-fruiting, which means it does not require cross pollination and can produce fruit from pollination with the pollen of its own flowers. However, you will get more berries if you grow two or more plants in close proximity.
Harvest and cook the berries for syrups, jellies, pies, juice and even wine. Wildlife will love to snack on them, too, including dozens of backyard bird species, such as catbirds, robins and bluebirds.
Elderberry suckers form large and lush thickets, which make the shrubs perfect for a privacy hedge and provide plenty of hiding spots for songbirds.
Native Red Elderberry
“I came across this wild berry bush that several types of birds, including rose-breasted grosbeaks, cedar waxwings and a juvenile robin, were feasting on. What kind of plant is this?” asks reader Doug Gimler of Morgan, Vermont.
Horticultural expert Melinda Myers says, “Birds and mammals love the red berries and pollinators appreciate the creamy white flowers of this native red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa). There is some debate but the fruit is said to be indelible and slightly toxic to humans unless cooked. This elderberry typically grows 12 to 15 feet tall and wide. It prefers moist soil and full sun but tolerates some shade.”
About the Expert
Melinda Myers is the official gardening expert for Birds & Blooms. She is a TV/radio host, author and columnist who has written more than 20 gardening books. Melinda earned a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
