Prized for making preserves, pastries and flavoring wine.
Elderberry is very ornamental with beautiful foliage and large, delicate clusters of tiny white flowers in early summer. It has been used in folk remedies for centuries, and the purple-black berries are good for preserves, flavoring wine and additions to pastries. The berries ripen in late summer and are high in vitamin C and many other components. Shrubs are often good additions to the full sun border, easy to grow and develop a full canopy. This collection includes two varieties, Adams and York, both of which are needed for cross-pollination and good fruit set. CAUTION: Only the ripe berries are edible. The seeds, bark, leaves, flowers and unripened fruit of elderberries contain toxic alkaloids.