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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: cambourne7 on September 07, 2006, 17:58:20

Title: where can i get elderflower plants
Post by: cambourne7 on September 07, 2006, 17:58:20
Hi

My hubbie loves elderflower and i want to have a go at making some elderflower drinks but cant find the plant.

help

cambourne7
Title: Re: where can i get elderflower plants
Post by: legendaryone on September 07, 2006, 18:23:23
It is a tree/bush and you can find it growing in hedgerows, go for a nice walk along a canalside or nature reserve and you are bound to see one and then you could take a cutting from it.
Title: Re: where can i get elderflower plants
Post by: saddad on September 07, 2006, 18:29:19
Does anybody know if the black form sold as a decorative plant has the same eating qualities? I have a ready supply on the allotments but couldn't bring myself to plant a normal one!
 ???
Title: Re: where can i get elderflower plants
Post by: Toadspawn on September 07, 2006, 23:52:20
Presumably with your nickname you are at Cambourne in Cambridgeshire. If so, there are lots of bushes growing in the hedgerows and in May/June you can pick flowers in abundance, certainly all along the Devils Ditch footpath near Newmarket. No need to buy a bush because they get very large, the berries seed themselves everywhere and you will know when they are ripe because your car/washing etc will be covered with bird excrement after they have had a good feed.
Title: Re: where can i get elderflower plants
Post by: Grant on September 08, 2006, 09:11:10
Just remember you can use the flowers and the fruit, but not the leaves or wood of the Elderflower bush/tree.
Title: Re: where can i get elderflower plants
Post by: cambourne7 on September 08, 2006, 16:15:02
Hi All,

Yes good old cambourne in cambridgeshire :-)

Many thanks i have set my self a reminder for may 2007 to go looking at the hedges.

May be back then for identification :-)

Cambourne7
Title: Re: where can i get elderflower plants
Post by: caroline7758 on September 08, 2006, 18:54:25
They will be covered in berries at the moment- clusters of small purple ones- so you sould identify them yourself and go back in May for the flowers!
Title: Re: where can i get elderflower plants
Post by: adrianhumph on September 09, 2006, 09:25:11
hi all,  :D
 
Does anybody know if the black form sold as a decorative plant has the same eating qualities? I have a ready supply on the allotments but couldn't bring myself to plant a normal one!
 ???
Yes saddad, the black ornamental variety,  called black lace sambuca, is perfectly edible. For those worried about the size of the bush/tree, elder can be cut down hard every winter so you can keep the thing under control. We have 2 of the black lace varieties, & these grow to about 3 metres tall during the summer with  very attractive foliage, when the leaves fall off, late autumn time, they are cut down to about 50 cms/ 1 metre above the ground.

                                                                   Adrian.
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