Tree - Elder

There were two elder trees when we moved in. We got rid of the one in the flower garden, as it took up too much room, but left the one at the bottom of the garden. A neighbour's cat used to sharpen its claws on the trunk, which stripped a lot of the bark off, and the tree seemed unhappy, for that reason or just old age. Gradually the branches died off. Eventually I "pruned" it. In fact, I cut the main trunk down, but left a couple of other shoots for a bit, expecting that these would die too. Much to my surprise, those shoots have grown vigorously, and we now have an elder tree again!

Elder produces flowers, which you can make into elderflower cordial (although I never have). It also produces elderberries, which we also don't use. The birds enjoy them though. Bird droppings turn purple when they're ripe!

Tree in winter

Leaves late February

Leaves mid March

Coming into flower

Elder flower

Elder fruit

The winter of 2022/2023 was cold, with snow. I thiught it had killed the elder, but there is still some growth. Photos show before and after pruning of dead wood.

Click on photos for large version.