Poisoned Friend

[thistlebloom]

WILD ???

It's okay, they're not aggressive.

The reason I wondered is because there are five different wild varieties. bills told us about the red elder that even when the berries are mature they're toxic. I'm pretty sure what I saw were the black or blue elder.

 

[Jared77]

That 'Black Lace' sambucus is a real eye catcher. Due to it's fast growth is it short lived?

 

[thistlebloom]

I think Sanbucus in general aren't long lived species, and I'm guessing here, but probably less than 20 years. They sucker though, so it would be easy to keep a patch going. Whether the Black Lace would be true in a sucker I wouldn't know.

 

[catjac1975]

We used to eat wild elderberries. I guess they were the right kind. A few times I collected bags and bags of them to make jelly. It was when I was a kid living at home in their 2nd floor apartment. I decided to put the stems through the garbage disposal and my Dad had to call a roto rooter. Worse yet i did it again with grape stems. I can still here my Dad now, who rarely yelled, "God Damn it Catrin, (Catherine), that damn jelly cost $50.00 a jar!

 

[Nyboy]

Did your dad at least enjoy the jelly?

 

[catjac1975]

He was not a jelly kind of guy. I do remember it was like rubber-lots of natural pectin in the fruit. But, very tasty.