Why are We Planting This?
Ecological Gifts
Favorite of many pollinators and birds love the berries. Also serves as a host plant for several insect species. Some birds, including hummingbirds, use the shrubs for nests.
Edible Gifts
The berries are delicious, though we like them better cooked and preserved. Flowers are also edible and can be used in tea when dried.
Medicinal Gifts
The plant has a rich medicinal history as well. See more below.
Other Gifts
The plant can help activate compost and some studies report that it can be used as an insect repellent. We’re playing around with insect repellent alternatives, and intend to incorporate this into our experimenting along with sweetgrass, yarrow, and native mints.
Read more in-depth about these plants and explore literature at Plants for a Future. Note that the American Elderberry is also catalogued here under the species usually reserved for the European variety (see description in group entry).