Sambucus nigra Cherry Lace - Black Elder

The Sambucus nigra 'Cherry Lace' is a selection of dark and airy black elderberry, remarkable for its colours and structure. It is also a bush with moderate development that easily finds its place in a small garden. It has deeply incised foliage with a fine texture reminiscent of some Japanese maples. At the time of flowering, this black cherry-coloured foliage forms a perfect chromatic pairing with flowers ranging from cherry pink to pale pink. A very beautiful plant, perfectly hardy, undemanding, and almost maintenance-free.

The Sambucus nigra 'Cherry Lace' ('Hyfjolais') is a deciduous bush of the Adoxaceae family. It is a recent Dutch creation by Hyfryd Plants. Its wild ancestor, Sambucus nigra, is widespread in Europe, North Africa, and even Asia Minor. The black elderberry is an opportunistic and highly adaptable species found in clearings, hedges, fallow land, coastal dunes, and even near human settlements where it has coexisted for millennia. It is, therefore, an undemanding bush that is very easy to grow everywhere. It tolerates clay-limestone soils perfectly, even if they are relatively dry, as long as they are deep.

With slow growth, the 'Cherry Lace' cultivar does not exceed 1.50 m (5ft) in all directions at the age of 10. Its habit is bushy and spreading. Its woody branches are verrucate, greyish, and filled with white pith. They bear particularly elegant foliage; their leaves are divided into numerous very thin, laciniate, slightly glossy leaflets. The young leaves are reddish-green, unfolding to become very dark, almost black. Flowering usually occurs in June (a little earlier or later, depending on the climate). It takes the form of false umbels measuring up to 25 cm (10in) in diameter, which remain decorative for a long time. Each one is composed of numerous small flowers with 5 petals. Over the course of days, these flowers change from white bordered with cherry pink to pinkish-white, creating a delightful range of colours on the bush. This slightly fragrant flowering attracts many pollinating insects. The edible and tasty fruits are black to purplish berries with soft flesh, measuring 6 to 8 mm (1in) in diameter.

The 'Cherry Lace' elderberry is a beautiful bush for a small flowering hedge, but it is also well-suited for planting individually, at the front of a large shrub bed or in front of a border of lady's mantle and 'Wilcott' variegated spurge. Like all elderberries, it is very hardy and easy to combine with other shrubs that flower in spring or summer. You can also grow it in a large pot or container for 3 or 4 years. It can be paired with small lilacs ('Tinkerbelle', S. microphylla 'Superba'), mock oranges, or landscape roses with single flowers like 'Astronomia', the very compact Weigela florida 'Big Love' with its powdery pink flowers, and many other shrubs.

In the kitchen, the flowers can be prepared as fritters or in syrup by soaking them in sugar. The vinegar-pickled buds enhance salads, and the berries are consumed as juice, jellies, jams, or in wine. They pleasantly flavour apple cakes. Only the flowers and berries without petioles are edible; the rest of the plant can be toxic.

Good to know: elderberry leaves are known to accelerate compost decomposition. Black elderberry leaf infusion is useful in organic gardening to combat mildew and attacks by aphids or rodents. Soak 1 kg of leaves in 10 litres of water for a few days, then spray as needed. It can also be planted in an orchard, where it attracts insect-predatory birds.