Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Blueberries, figs, plums, and muscadines are plants that are suitable for the backyard orchard – you don’t have to do much to control insects or diseases. Elderberry is a plant you could add to your backyard if you have some room. In other parts of the country, there are lots of both commercial and home orchards of elderberry but for some reason we haven’t used them much here. But Dr. Greg Reigard, one of Clemson’s top fruit researchers, has some planted at the Musser Farm and they are doing just fine. There are lots of nurseries that offer improved varieties of elderberries that tend to ripen at the same time and some have slightly larger berries. You’ll have to choose more than one variety, however, as you get better fruit set if you have plants with different genetic packages providing pollen for each other.
Cultivating Muscadines
