...Jenny's Garden Home...

Image of appealing bird and butterfly attractant, Sambucus nigra 'Eva' shrub coming soon...

Family:  Caprifoliaceae
Light:  Sun-part shade
Height:  Up to 10' 
Spread:  6-8'
Blooms:  Fragrant, massive pale pink flowers on flat-topped cymes, in late Spring / mid-Summer followed by deep red berries.
Foliage:  Showy, purple-black, finely cut, deciduous, compound, pinnate
Fruit:  Delicious, edible small, round, attractive, red berries
Soil:  Well-drained, sandy, clayery, loamy, keep moist-wet
Water:  Regular, drought tolerant when established
Fertilizer:  Slow Release once every year
Propagation: Cuttings
Insects / Diseases:  Watch for leaf-chewing insects.  May encounter problems with cankers, powdery mildew or leaf spots.
Uses:  Specimen, container, accent, landscaping, deck, patio, screening hedge, shrub border, mass planting
Cmments:  Sambucus nigra 'Eva' or  Black Elder or  Black Lace or Bourtree or Elderberry or European Elder is a deciduous stoloniferous shrub with gorgeous dakr black foliage with a resemblance of the Japanese Maple.  This upright shrub bears lovely tiny leomony-scented pale pink blooms are a hit with the bees, butterflies and birds. Black Elder is fast growing and can tolerate acidic or alkalinic soil and some drought.  Elderberry can be pruned to size or trained to be a small tree, making it an awesome specimen shrub for the landscaping garden.  Pinch new growth tips in young plants to promote more branching and a rounded shape. Sambucus nigra 'Eva' can also be grown in a container to accent the patio or deck so you can admire its wonderful display of beautiful blossoms.  Grown in masses, Bourtree American Elder makes an superb looking screening hedge or an attractive shrub border.  European Elder is  frost tolerant and easy to propagate from cutttings.  The intense purple foliage of Black Lace foliage provides my garden all year long with a pleasing and unusual color contrast.  It is a definite attention-getter.
USDA Hardiness Zones :  5-11