I was wondering about Marge because I’d seen it listed for sale from a few places. It’s the result of an open pollenated H.burg (whatever the popular euro cultivar is called). ‘Marge’: a European Elderberry for North American Producers - PMC
I’m not sure if it’s a Euro-American hybrid (or if it’s self-fertile, unlike H.burg?), but it might need a European friend to fruit?
ive read its self-pollinating but sets more fruit with another elder nearby. dont know if the blue elder are compatible enough or not. i may need to add another american or euro for better harvests
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I have Ranch, Bob Gordon, Nova, York, a wild from down the road, and I think Adams. The birds got all the berries last year, so I don’t know. If I can lift my arm, maybe I will net some this year. Just been focusing on moving cuttings around for now.
Just got Goodbarn from Fedco this week- looks like a monster.
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I think i have most every known variety except for ‘Ozark’ which had a sketchy beginning a few years ago then kind of disappeared from market. Not sure about that one. I think someone saw it for sale at Costco or a major box store. It is a legit cultivar found by Patrick Byers who has some great youtube videos and is an expert on Elderberry Cultivation.
Charlie Little has been doing what he usually does and is likely going to release several varieties before long. I think ‘Burton’, ‘Alana’ and ‘Carolyn’ and ‘SAT-1’ are the ones he will likely be promoting. This is what he does though… he did the same thing with ‘Lavacaberry’… . but failed. I do however think that with his kingdom that is Elderberry World that this will work for him. He reminds me of PT Barnum.
The only variety that failed on me was ‘Nova’ but that was likely my fault…i replaced it this year.
I am most excited to see some oddballs that i am growing like ‘Medicine Wheel’ from Useful Plants Nursery. Along with a few seedlings from a fellow enthusiast and my wild find ‘Hobet’. I have also introduced a couple of local natives that i found growing on a river bank that had small berries… i want to see if the birds leave the others alone in favor of the smaller more edible berries.
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Were you able to keep notes on how well each of your varieties do?
I’m a big fan of Patrick Byers and refer to his Elderberry research a lot.
I believe he does the MU “Blueberry School” too
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To be honest i dont care how the common varieties do… i only care about the oddballs. I had to move every single plant to a new location due to deer pressure. They are now fenced in with dogs… i dont plan on eating any of them… my only cares are flowers for pollinators… berries for birds… and wood for cuttings for my nursery.
I may be interested in canes for bee habitat as well.
I will however have to document the fruits of my oddballs in order to sell… so yes i will be keeping records.
I also am growing the blues and ornamentals.
I am doing the opposite of everyone on FB and doing the method of letting them compete with weeds. I forget who uses that method but i like it. Theres a symbiosis there somehow that makes no logical sense… but neither does cutting them to the ground… but that works too.
These are ancient plants that are much wiser and adapted than we give them credit for.
I may end up totally failing but we will see.
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they dont compete well with weeds or grass. i gave one to my neighbor who planted it in his lawn and didnt mulch. for 3 years it barely grew. i suggested he put cardboard around it and some mulch. the next summer it grew 7ft. i mulch all of mine. maybe when they are older with a bigger root system they can compete but seedings cant.
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I’ve found they’ll root in water pretty easily. Best to cut just under a bud, so that the hollow pith is sealed up. Then you just set them in the water and the roots push out of the lenticels, and some out of the cut end and buds. When they do root, you can see how similar the stems and rhizomes are. One becomes the other pretty readily, too
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In my observation, plants with niche growing habits are ones that tolerate environmental stressors rather than duke it out in more prime habitats. People mistakenly think that wetland plants, like Elderberries, “love water” and try to mimic the places where it’s found in the wild. In fact, I think for the most part those type of species would as soon grow in nice fertile loam like any other plant, but in fact need some extra care in terms of limiting competition.
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@hobilus … doubt i will ever try to root cuttings again. Digging up a crown of wild elder was not difficult… (I did 2) they transplanted and have took off growing like crazy.
Wild elder grows all over around here… I can drive 10 minutes and see lots. I just did not have any near my house… but now i do.
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Except for a couple of cultivars that are seedlings of wild finds (John2 etc)… every named variety that everyone likes was found in the wild… growing in weeds and uncultivated and unpruned… Also some of the popular cultivars were found in acidic sandy soil.
This is probably my favorite explanation of how to grow elderberries and he starts out by saying… hes been growing them for over 10 years and has over 7000 plants… “i dont want to refute anyones experiences or prove anyone wrong…this is how we grow them”
At about the 3 min mark he talks about- ‘these plants are native plants and they have adapted to grow in and with competition and …perform better with native competition’
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We bought a few Marge after reading some of the research from Missouri. It will be my only European Elder so it will be interesting to see if it fruits.
I did notice that the high yield of Marge in the research was based on yield per plant rather than per acre. Looks like Marge is planted about twice as far apart as typical American Elders so perhaps the yield improvement will be less than expected. Another part of the yield boost is a result a much longer fruiting period which will require some extra picking time.
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im trialling one here. my concern is if it will ripen its fruit in time. bob gordon and wylewood both dont here.
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When people talk about grass competition, my reference point is the timothy that grows here in my orchard. The leaves are just coming out on the trees, and already the grass is 16” + high. The elder patches I’ve seen are pretty devoid of grass, but are full of all sorts of forbs, especially Joe Pye Weed. Lots of buckthorn too usually anymore.
The Stanley thermos in the picture is 14” tall, and that cooler is the type that holds a 12 pack
I don’t think elder is a particularly tender plant. My point was mostly just to not read too much into the particulars of where a plant is found. The idea of what a given plant prefers in terms of wet, dry, rocky, etc. makes less sense to me than the notion that some plants can tolerate extremes better than others. Thus you find many wetland plants also grow in very dry places, for example.
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I did get some nice blossoms this summer and just now picked this nice cluster of berries. Not bad for first year transplanted wilds.
TNHunter
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Hi Kris: Can you please share the nurseries or other sources from where you acquired the elderberrry cuttings? I would like to try growing several varieties in zone 9B and see what will survive/proliferate in gulf-coast south. Thanks-
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