Elderberry dilemma

Jinglejangle

I have an existing elderberry shrub that is appox 20 ft high, 12 ft wide at the top, and has a multiple set of trunks that together are 3 ft wide. This is at the end of my garden. I have a toddler who plays in the garden. I know that elderberry can be poisonous. I enjoy that the birds love the berries and the plant itself. However it looks very bedraggled and has grown so quickly since we moved in.

How can this plant be contained? If I were to remove it, what would be a good replacement for birds? Is this plant difficult to remove?

Tree

We chop back our elderflower a lot. We keep the lower two metres trimmed back close to the tree, and I don't recall seeing flowers and berries that low. The bees love the flowers.
It's a fast growing plant, and we need to chop it back regularly. The landlord get's it lopped right back every couple of years.

macraignil

If you harvest all the flowers you could try using them to make elderflower sparkling wine. The river cottage show on TV had a recipie. Then you should get no berries. I had not much success when I tried the recipie myself and I think better cleaning of where I was brewing might have helped.

The wikipedia page on elderberry says the sambucus nigra which I think is the usual variety in Ireland is not classified as toxic. Some cooking is still recomended before eating the berries but there are likely to be any number of other things in the garden that should not be eaten. If you have birds in the garden I would not expect berries to be on the ground for any length of time. If you prune out some of the crossing branches and any that are diseased or damaged it could make the elderflower look a bit better but this is usually best done in winter. A tree that size would be awkward to remove.

baaba maal

Agree with all of that- if you are willing to live with it, personally I would cut it back to the base every 2-3 years. The regrowth would be uniform and should produce some of the flowers and berries. I have eaten the berries occasionally with no ill effects, made poor elderberry wine and love using the flowers in salads. I would say that about half the plant labels I read in garden centres indicate the plant isn't edible, so your garden probably already contains some slightly toxic/disagreeable plants already?

evolving_doors

I made jam out of them!
eldwrflower champagne/cider was ok but tasteless (mostly tonnes of added sugar makes the alcohol)but you need a tonne picked at exact right time . loads of insects in the flowers too.
Good few threads in homebrew forum.

Supercell

I would just leave it, with two curious kids under 4 myself and several cotoneaster bushes with tasty looking orange berries on them. I just tell them it will make them sick and they loose interest. I suppose it helps that mummy has morning sickness at the moment and is rather ahem...loud about it so they know sick is bad for now!

Niall_daaS

baaba maal wrote: »

I would say that about half the plant labels I read in garden centres indicate the plant isn't edible, so your garden probably already contains some slightly toxic/disagreeable plants already?

This might be because of legal restrictions. It's EU law I think that plants with edible parts which are sold in an non-food area (like a garden centre) have to come with a label saying people shouldn't eat the fruits. It's because nurseries and garden centres do plant protection and you never know if the last round wasn't 10 min ago. That doesn't mean you could never eat the fruits after buying and planting it in your garden.

Regarding the Sambucus I think mellow fruits are ok and after being cooked it's in popular use for a lot of stuff like jam and alcoholic experiments.

filbert the fox

Jinglejangle wrote: »

I have an existing elderberry shrub that is appox 20 ft high, 12 ft wide at the top, and has a multiple set of trunks that together are 3 ft wide. This is at the end of my garden. I have a toddler who plays in the garden. I know that elderberry can be poisonous. I enjoy that the birds love the berries and the plant itself. However it looks very bedraggled and has grown so quickly since we moved in.

How can this plant be contained? If I were to remove it, what would be a good replacement for birds? Is this plant difficult to remove?

Why do you say the berries are poisonous?

recedite

I eat the berries; they are not poisonous, but not all that nice either.
Elerflower cordial is a really refreshing drink for kids and adults. Boil the flowers in sugary water and leave steeping for a day or two, then sieve out the flowers and refrigerate.
After a while it would start to ferment, if any left. Only for the adults then