I moved two blueberry bushes from a location where they were doing okay, but were crowded by blackberries, to a new location where I prepared excellent acidic soil for them, and the new location is near, but not really crowded, by a large elderberry bush. I water them with rain water which I collect in barrels from roof runoff, no tap water. They are doing very poorly in the new location, getting smaller each year now for the last two years. The problem has to be either something in the shingles of the house roof getting into the rainwater that I collect from the roof or the elderberry bush. I strongly suspect that the culprit is the elderberry bush. I'm with Daisyduckworth on this one, but I'm ready to listen to any one who is that they know for sure. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that a volunteer blackberry seedling came along to the location near the elderberry bush and it s thriving. One more thing--berries and leaves from the elderberry often fall into the water barrel and decompose when the cover is off the rain barrel during rain catching times.

I tried to plant several of the 'better' cultivars of Elderberries in our back yard. I knew Elderberries would grow there because we had what our neighbor described as one of the best elderberry bushes in our end of the county- about a hundred feet from where the new bushes went in. The established bush was on the shady/north side of a two story high barn. The new bushes never did anything good. They stayed short and DH mowed them down one year thinking they were weeds. Well, he was sort of right. Elderberries are weeds around here. And I know the locations of quite a few as I want to make jelly from them for a cousin who remembers it as the kind she grew up eating. A good elderberry bush ends up with pounds of fruit hanging from the ends of the stems. Once it's harvested, it's upright again. But the berries do stain, not as bad as poke, but stain nonetheless. My most consistant upright growing shrub/small tree is the red twigged dogwood. It is shrubby, rather than tree like, but I have it planted where it doesn't look bad against the creamy yellow of our house but where I can see the !!red twigs in winter against the grey green of winter as I work in the kitchen. I'd also consider a gingko for upright trainable growth and I do love the yellow leaves in the fall. Wish I could report better news on the elderberries (and I'd still like that butterfly bush and I have a Alba meidiland for your Momma.) Ann

i have 5 s. canadensis of bob gordon and wylewood cultivars and 3 s. nigra black lace and black beauty cultivars. i put in the s. canadensis 2 yrs ago and the s. nigra last year. this year my s. canadensis has huge flower cymes but as the flowers fall there are only a few green berries forming. also i haven't seen any bees on them either but my raspberries 40ft. away are full of bumble bees. do bumble bees pollinate elderberry? I've seen them in my blueberries and currants before. maybe i have to wait till next year for a big crop. any ideas? for 2 years growth these elderberry bushes are huge! nearly 7ft. tall and the cymes are 12 to 14in. across! they are in poor rocky clay soil only amended with a handful or so of worm castings and some peat! unreal how vigorous they are!

Sambucus are prone to stem and branch cankers. Check for sunken areas on the stems or branches and prune out if located. If the cankers reach the main trunk, you have likely lost your shrub :-( Elderberry shoot borers are also a possibility, so check for holes low on the stems. Are you sure this is 'Sutherland Gold'? I grew this elder in my old garden and the leaves were bright golden yellow, not at all green as yours appears to be.