Elders… Shrubs for the garden
Most gardeners will be familiar with the golden-leaved elder, a shrub that seems to have been widely planted in the St. John's area during the 1950's and 1960's. Many of these plants have grown very well under our conditions, reaching 2-3 m in height and spread. Apart from occasional damage by elder borer - a striking blue and yellow striped insect- plants are free from insect and disease attacks.
The elder is only one member of the Sambucus genus that includes some other interesting shrubs that would do well in our gardens. Generally all species have compound leaves, with branches and stems that are corky, containing abundant soft pith.
The Red Elderberry (S. pubens) is native to our Province, but is rarely seen growing in the wild on the Avalon Peninsula, though it is common in central and western Nfld. However, it certainly thrives here, and self-sown seedlings will occur, presumably as a result of seeds being dispersed by birds feeding on the berries. The small red berries, which are not considered edible, ripen by early August.
Another elderberry species, S. canadensis, (see photo) known as the Common Elder in Nova Scotia, does have edible berries. These black, or dark purple berries, are popular in pies, or can be used for making jams, jellies and wines.
Several named varieties, developed at the Kernville Research Station, are heavier cropping and have a larger berry size than the wild plants. The flowers which occur in large white clusters, have also been used for wine making-possibly a tradition brought from Europe where flowers of the European elder, S. nigra, are used in this way
The golden-leaved elder mentioned earlier is possibly a form of S. nigra 'Aurea'- at least that is how it is described in Sheridan's Nurseries catalogues from the early 1980's. However, a golden-leaved form of S. canadensis 'Aurea' was also listed for sale by several Canadian nurseries in 1982 H .
In addition to the golden-leaved form a number of other foliage variants would be worth growing.
S. nigra 'Laciniata' has finely dissected leaves, and could be used as a replacement for the slower growing and possibly non-hardy Japanese Maple.
S.nigra 'Aureomarginata', with yellow margins on dark green leaves, could be grown alongside S. nigra 'Pulverulenta', which has marbled white and green other foliage variants would be worth growing.
Another European species, S. racemosa, has a 'Plum osa Aurea' form which has finely cut leaflets which start out a bronze colour that turns golden yellow as the leaflets mature.
The most striking of these ornamental elders is a relatively new variant discovered in Scotland in the 1950's growing in a hedgerow. Cuttings from the plant were taken to Northern Ireland and propagated. Released as the variety 'Guincho', (after the garden in which it was first grown), the foliage is a striking purple colour. Flower buds are pink, and the base of the petals retain their red tint as the flowers open. The dark leaves provide a striking background to the fluffy heads of creamy-pink flowers. An excellent specimen of 'Guincho' has been grown by Ross Traverse in his shrub garden where it is particularly striking in the fall as other shrubs turn colour. There was a heavy crop of black berries in 2002 on a plant about 3 m tall.
Other purple-leaved forms of S. nigra have since been discovered, and at least one, 'Black Beauty' is reputedly an improvement over Guincho'.
Descriptions of these and other elders, such as the yellow fruited variant of S. nigra 'Fructuhuter', can be found in Hilliers 'Manuel of trees and Shrubs', 'Reader's Digest A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants' and nursery catalogues.
Now is the time to get after our local nurseries and see what they are bringing into the Province this year....and ask them about these shrubs. Finally, what about variants of our own S. pubens? I expect that there are some out there, but nobody has ever bothered to look for them!
*Woody Plant Source list-Agriculture Canada, T.J.Cole.
Note added later: Ross Traverse tells me he discovered a yellow berried form of S. pubens on a Wild Flower Society excursion to the Burin Peninsula. He collected seeds but they did not germinate.
Kenneth G. Proudfoot