You can eat both black elderberry flowers and berries, which can only be eaten when they are fully ripe and turn black and purple. Eating unripe berries can cause poisoning.
Where is the best place to plant elderberry
Traditionally, elderberries, whose young shoots have an unpleasant odor that repels even flies, are planted near toilets, cesspools or compost pits. As for the composition of the soil, the optimal soil for elderberry is moist loam or sod-podzolic soil with a pH in the range of 6.0-6.5 pH.
How fast does elderberry grow
Elderberry grows rapidly (annual growth is about 60 cm, but can reach 1.5-2 m). It can start bearing fruit from the age of three. A relatively winter-hardy species, in the conditions of the Moscow region, branches can freeze slightly in winter, but due to the rapid recovery, the plants do not die.
How to cover elderberry for the winter
Shelter for the winter.
Since black elderberry has increased frost resistance, adult plants can not be covered for the winter. However, in the first two years after planting, we recommend that you cover the near-trunk circles with dry leaves in a layer of 50 cm in the fall, and lay spruce branches “needles up” in one layer on top - from rodents.
