Since I had no idea what elderberries look like growing, I had read as much as I could about them before ordering. One thing that was in almost every article was something about the fragrant blossoms.
Elderberry Blossoms
It is hard to describe how absolutely delightful the fragrance of these blossoms. Almost every plant has at least two big flower head type things like this one.
Elderberry Blossom
Before I ever get to the garden gate, I can smell these sweet blossoms. I sure hope they produce a few berries this year. I can also already see new shoots coming up from the ground. I’m thinking these would be great to put along a fence line. But, for now, we probably have more than enough elderberries.
Dawn in NL says
Or you could plant more elderberries and harvest half berries and half flowers. Elderflower cordial makes a delightful drink with sparkling water. Buy some and try it!
Judy Laquidara says
Since we just planted these as bareroots, I’ll be surprised if we get any this year. My first priority is elderberry syrup to boost the immune system but I think even in sparkling water, with maybe “something else” added, we’d still be getting health benefits, don’t you think? 🙂
vivoaks says
You’ll be surprised how little you’ll get from each blossom cluster. It will be less than you think. I haven’t made elderberry jelly in a few years, but it will take all of the berries on a bunch of those clusters to make jelly. If the birds decide they look nice, you’ll probably get nothing! That’s what happened to us last year….same thing with my blueberries. I’m going to have to get some netting to put around them to keep the birds away if I want to harvest anything this year!! 🙂 Good luck!!
Judy Laquidara says
It’s the same thing with peaches, plums, figs, cherries. I always plant way more than we’ll need so hopefully there’s enough to share with the birds and still leave some for us. Two good elderberries would have been enough for us but I planted 12. This year, if we get any, I’ll be surprised but in years to come, we should get more than we can use.
Nelle Coursey says
The blossoms are very pretty. Hope you get all the fruit you expected!