I, personally, don’t like regular patterns in a mixed shrubbery, so I would not do rigid alternation. And I would not use just two species. Elder can grow far taller than Weigela, ultimately becoming a small tree if you let it. Since both species are deciduous I’d want some evergreens mixed in, even though you have evergreens behind. And I’d want some contrasting leaf shapes and colours. Many hardy shrubs are easy to grow from cuttings so there’s lots of choice.

The mature growth habit of Elderberry leans heavily towards clear open trunks at the bottom with a rounded canopy on top. It is also a plant you can dig up on the side of the road most anywhere.

IME elders prefer to live in ditches. Weigela wouldn't be happy with the amount of water that elders want.

I don’t think elder needs especially large amounts of water. I’ve seen them growing in all sorts of situations including hillsides in Tuscany where it hadn't rained for three months. I wouldn’t expect either elder or weigela to need supplemental watering. They are a ubiquitous plant here, and, although they do tend to small tree form when unpruned, they are equally happy being flailed regularly by farmers attending to their hedges.

That said, I’ve never actually seen one growing by a weigela since they are essentially treated as weeds by gardeners here and usually removed.

Thanks Floral, that's interesting. In Virginia they grow in ditches with joe pye weed - maybe because they get weeded out anywhere else LOL.

Elderberry's treatment and reputation as a weed is on the way out with all the new garden selections being introduced. The common east coast species can actually be quite showy in a good bloom year.

Search results for: 'elderberry' (monrovia.com)

My comment about their weediness applied to our wild elderberries in a garden context, not any garden cultivars. Given that we generally have very small plots here, other than the ornamental selections, the species is generally left to be admired out in the countryside.

Not all elderberries are created equal :-) Most of the ornamental forms are selections of European elderberry, Sambucus niger or S. racemosa. Here, blue elder, Sambucus caerulea, is a common native but weedy species....there are several popping up on my property, thanks to the birds.

To my knowledge, S. canadensis is not grown intentionally for any ornamental features but rather for its fruit.

I don't know that I've seen any elderberry growing wild in my area. I've seen a very few that seem wild-ish around parking lots, so I think I'd recognize it if I saw it. Unless they're all cut back or in areas where they're more hidden?

Either way.

My original plan was to put in fruit trees for both me and to support wildlife, but the trees that I wanted really won't do well at my house so I gave up on it. The perimeter is already pushed back, though, so I'd like to fill it in with things that will encourage the wildlife that I like (deer, rabbits, squirrels, opossums, black snakes, birds, and wild turkey) without doing any damage (like the wild blackberry vines that are everywhere), and then I can continue growing the garden out with a variety of edibles and ornamental.

I was thinking about using the Weigela as a companion to the Elderberry for a few reasons:

1. Varying the colors

2. I thought they were similar in size? The link I posted says that weigela gets to 10' tall, which is about the same as the elderberry

3. Since it's growing at my MIL's house with no attention at all, I have to assume that it would be tough enough to endure any damage that the wildlife might do

Here's what her Weigela looks like as of yesterday:

And my Elderberry:

The leaves look pretty similar to me, both die back in the winter, and they seem to bloom at about the same time. So yeah, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to only do a few of each and then bring in a few other shrub varieties.

I have Sunshine Ligustrum and Ever Red Fringe Flower loropetalum growing, so I could fill in with those for free. I've not had any luck with their cuttings yet, though :-/

I'll probably create a new thread in a month or so and ask for feedback on other companion shrubs :-)

Be that as it may it seems the intentional growing of elder for fruit is a rarity over here. Not many people use the fruit and those that do gather it in the wild.

Now this is coming from SUPER ignorance, so don't hold me to it!

But my girlfriend takes elderberry supplements to help with menopause symptoms like hot flashes, and they help a lot. She's tried to stop taking them for awhile to see what happens, and the hot flashes come back with a vengeance!

There are a few studies on the effects:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8877800/

I don't know how the berries are converted to a supplement, but I did have a thought of researching it more when I start to have berries.

Worst case scenario, I chalk it up to a bad idea and let the wildlife have them :-)

I have a couple of wine and roses weigela that grow in a spot that floods when it rains. The water drains, but it can take hours. They seem to thrive. if I dig down in the soil near there, there's a lot of water beneath the surface.

You can make syrup, wine and jelly with the berries and a cordial from the flowers. I’ve made them all but only because they're tasty and I like free food, not because I’ve ever felt the need for any ‘supplements.‘ You can buy the latter in health food shops if you’re interested in that kind of thing.

btw Elder will grow far taller than 10ft.

You can buy the latter in health food shops if you’re interested in that kind of thing.

In the US, supplements aren't inspected by the FDA so more often than not they're complete fraud! The New York Attorney General posted a warning a few years back against big box stores, because they had tested their supplements and found NONE of the active ingredients in the pills:

https://www.npr.org/2015/02/03/383578263/new-york-attorney-general-targets-mislabeled-herbal-supplements

That problem extends to a lot of things. You can buy honey or olive oil that's labeled as "100% pure", but it's really diluted up to 49%!

They also inject salt water into meat to make it look thick and cheaper by weight, but of course that water cooks out so it's just a trick.

After I learned that, I go out of my way to create whatever I can on my own. Since I have 5 acres of land, I'd love to set up a small honeybee farm at the perimeter so I can get my own honey instead of paying $20 for a quart of glorified sugar water!

I wanted to update about my wild elderberry bush.

You can see in the earlier pics in this thread, it was about 1' tall (0.3m) when I transplanted it to a full sun area. Now, April 2023, it was well over 8' wide and 5' tall! (about 2.5m x 1.5m)!

I've had a lot of trees cut back over the last year, though, which has opened up a lot of new garden space. Based on a lot of the feedback in this thread, last week I decided to dig it up and put it in a new area where it's less dominant.

It really didn't like the transplant at all, but it's already starting to recover. The new area gets direct sun from around 9am until about 1pm, then dappled sun until 6pm.

Once it has fully recovered and looks prettier, I'll post a new pic.