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Elderberries Are in Bloom!

Making It Grow! Minute logo

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. South Carolina roadsides are especially handsome now as the native elderberries are making a spectacular display with their showy clusters of creamy white flowers held on large plants growing vigorously in moist, sunny openings. . Native Americans used the strong exterior wood of these plants for blow guns, tubes, and pipes, and the pithy interior of the stem was a handy substrate for starting fires.  When the berries ripened, early people collected the ate or dried the fruits  for nutrition and vitamins.  Those same deep purple berries were a source for dyes to add color to baskets or animal hides. In the Americas and world-wide, elderberries have been used to treat numerous ailments, from fevers, to coughs, to skin irritations. My favorite remedy is wart removal -rub the wart with a cut elderberry stem, bury the stem and voila! – the wart disappears.  

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Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.