Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. My commute from St. Matthews to Sumter is brightened by numerous stands of elderberries with their large creamy flower heads. Elderberries grow all over the temperate world, and our native variety has long been used by animals and early peoples. The flowers are not particularly attractive to insects as they lack nectaries – there’s no sweet liquid reward for visiting pollinators, therefore elderberries are mostly self or wind pollinated. That being said, it's still recommended that you plant more than one variety if you grow elderberries in your backyard orchard. The flowers are safe to eat and some people dip them in pancake batter to make yummy fritters. The fruits, however, shouldn’t be eaten raw as they contain slightly-toxic compounds that fortunately are destroyed by heat –so feel free to use their juice to make wine or jelly.
Edible Elderberry Blossoms
