Red elder unfurls its leaves for spring

What is the true harbinger of spring in your garden, the one plant that defies the cold dampness of early April to open its buds ahead of all the others? In Marjorie’s garden, it is a red elder (Sambucus racemosa var. pubens) growing beneath the back steps leading up to the deck. When the seedling appeared two or three years ago, we discussed transplanting it to a more open spot, but then forgot about it. Over time it leaned more and more outward, and now it grows on crooked stems into the light.

By mid-April, this red elder, protected against the damp cold by the nearby warm wall, has unpacked leaves and flowers, the latter beginning as rounded clusters of tight green buds, a reddish-purple blush over each cluster’s upper surface. They look like small heads of broccoli nested within unfolding leaves that are tiny replicates of the compound structures they will soon become.

I have written about elders before but have yet to make a decent comparison of the two native species and how each might best be grown. Marjorie’s garden provides an apt comparison of their cultural requirements. In addition to the plant just mentioned, several other red elders, planted years ago by mice or birds, encircle the stout trunks of old yellow birches in a relatively dry and sunny site away from the house. Marjorie has pruned them into small multitrunk trees bearing gnarly branches that grow at all angles with the trunks. All winter we have enjoyed their picturesque architecture.

In a wetter and slightly shadier bed close to the house, we are growing several common elderberry shrubs (Sambucus canadensis), hoping to harvest the edible fruits if we can outsmart the birds. The plants are still small, each with three or four pithy canes that rise from a central crown to a height of 6 feet. Over the years, as the plants mature and spread, the entire bed will become a colony of canes.

The major difference is soil preference: red elders prefer dry and poorer soils while common elders need moist but well-drained soil. Common elders can also tolerate more shade.

The red elders will be in full flower by the middle of May, their branches bending nearly to breaking with the heavy clusters of off-white flowers. Insect pollinators of all descriptions are attracted to these flowers, ensuring an abundance of bright red berries in June. (Berries of red elder are not edible – leave them for the birds!)

As the red elderberries reach maturity, the common elders will be in full flower, their small off-white flowers, often called elderblow, borne in flat-topped clusters. The berries of these plants will not ripen until late summer when they become dark purple-black.

Although it is the berries of the common elder that are harvested for making wine and jams, the sweet-scented and sweet-tasting flowers also are edible, once cooked or processed. (Never eat the flowers directly from the plant.) Do not rinse harvested flowers before use, as this will remove much of their sweetness. Do look closely for insects.

Of course, this presents the gardener with a dilemma: whether to sacrifice a portion of the fruit harvest in favor of a little elderblow tea or a few elderblow corn fritters. (Recipes for the flowers of common elder can be found in “Edible Flowers: From Garden to Palate,” by Cathy Wilkinson Barash, Fulcrum Publishing, 1993).

In Marjorie’s garden, the emerging flower buds of red elder are a welcome signal to begin in earnest the gardener’s work. The growing season is upon us!

Send queries to Gardening Questions, P.O. Box 418, Ellsworth 04605, or to reesermanley@shead.org. Include name, address and telephone number.