Red elderberry

Photo: Algirdas at Lithuanian Wikipedia — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 3 through 7

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

The raw fruit, seeds, bark, leaves and roots all contain cyanogenic glycosides and are toxic raw — unlike black elderberry (S. nigra), even the ripe fruit needs cooking before eating, which destroys the toxins and also improves the flavor. Never eat this one raw off the bush. ⚠ Never eat this one raw.

Hardiness

Zone 3–7

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit, Flower

Ripens

June–Aug

Mature size

3–6 m tall by 2–4 m wide

Light

Full sun to part shade

Soil pH

5.5–7.0 (acidic to neutral)

Environment

Boreal to temperate

Native range

Across the Northern Hemisphere — North America, Europe and Asia — in moist woods, streambanks, forest edges and clearings from low to subalpine elevations.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–4 yrs

Growth speed

Fast, 30–60 cm/year once established

Spacing

300 cm (118 in) apart — about 9 m² (97 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Pinnately compound, 5–7 lance-shaped leaflets with toothed margins

Root system

Shallow, fibrous and suckering, spreading from the crown into a thicket — a fast pioneer of clearings and burnt ground, and easily increased by lifting a rooted sucker.

Fruit description

Small, bright red to orange-red drupes in dense pyramidal clusters, each berry 4–6 mm

Propagation

Softwood cuttings in early summer, hardwood cuttings in winter, or seed (needs both warm and cold stratification, so often takes two years to germinate).

Pollination

Insect-pollinated (flies, bees) and self-fertile.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.