Cold hardiness

Future

2050

2100

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Published baseline for this location from 1991-2020.

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Well-suited

2050

Zone 7a

Plotwright

Projected zone for this same location in 2050 (2041-2070) using SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry).

Well-suited

In plain terms: This location is in Zone 6b today. Its hardiness profile is cold winters, and coldest nights are typically around -3°F. By 2050, the projected hardiness zone is Zone 7a based on SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry). That is a +0.5-zone shift from Zone 6b to Zone 7a by 2050.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Future

2050

2100

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 40 ecoregions — 35 climate-resilient through 2070 · 5 suited today. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Blue Mountains forests

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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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Colorado Rockies forests

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Cross-Timbers savanna-woodland

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What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun / Part shade

Water

Moderate water

Spacing

96"

Habit

Vigorous deciduous shrub with pinnate leaves, broad flat creamy-white flower umbels in early summer, and drooping clusters of small black berries in late summer. The flowers and cooked ripe berries are edible and much-used, but the raw berries, leaves, bark, stems and roots are toxic (cyanogenic glycosides) — berries must be cooked and never eaten raw or unripe. A fast, tough plant that can sucker and seed about.

Care tips

•

Never eat the berries raw — they, like the leaves, bark, stems and roots, are toxic; cook ripe berries before making syrup, wine or jam.

•

Use it as a fast wildlife and hedgerow shrub: bees and hoverflies on the flowers, birds on the berries.

•

Keep its vigour in check — it suckers and self-seeds, so site it where it has room or cut it back hard each year (which also improves the foliage on cut-leaf forms).

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant in autumn or spring in full sun to part shade. Elder is undemanding — it tolerates most soils, including damp ground, and a wide range of sites — but flowers and fruits best with reasonable moisture and at least half a day of sun.

Transplanting

Move young container or bare-root stock while small; it establishes fast and roots readily, which is also why suckers and seedlings take hold so easily.

Early growth

Very fast for a shrub. Water through the first dry season, then it is largely self-reliant; flowering and berrying begin young.

Maturity

Matures at roughly 8 to 20 feet tall and 8 to 15 feet wide as a broad, multi-stemmed shrub carrying early-summer flowers and late-summer berry crops. Vigorous and can sucker and self-seed.

Propagation

Strikes very easily from hardwood cuttings in winter; also grows from cold-stratified seed (often spread by birds), and named ornamental forms are propagated from cuttings to stay true.

Pollination

Self-fertile

Insect-pollinated: the broad, flat creamy umbels are an open landing platform freely worked by honey bees, solitary bees and hoverflies in early summer. A single shrub sets heavy berry crops on its own.

Plants don't grow alone

Nectar forage

Bee

European honeybee (Apis mellifera)

Honey bees work the broad flat flower umbels for nectar and pollen in early summer.

Nectar forage

Fly

Hover flies (flower flies) (Syrphidae)

The open, accessible umbels are a classic hoverfly flower, freely visited for nectar and pollen.

Pollen forage

Bee

Mining bees (Andrena spp.)

Solitary mining bees plausibly forage pollen from the shallow, exposed early-summer flowers.

For people

Edible with preparation

Edible only with preparation. The flowers (elderflower cordial) and the cooked ripe berries (elderberry syrup, wine and jam) are much-used, but the raw berries, and the leaves, bark, stems and roots, are toxic (cyanogenic glycosides) and cause nausea and vomiting. Always cook the ripe berries; never eat them raw or unripe.

Climate notes

•

NC State / USDA hardiness zones 4a-8b; native across Europe, north Africa and western Asia (POWO, Kew).

•

RHS gives the ornamental Sambucus nigra forms such as "Black Lace" the Award of Garden Merit and rates the species fully hardy (H6) — a dependable wildlife and edible-flower/fruit shrub (RHS).

•

Adaptable and tolerant of part shade, damp ground and poor soils; happiest with moderate moisture, it is not a true drought plant and prefers cooler temperate conditions over prolonged extreme heat.

•

Honest siting note — edibility AND toxicity: the flowers and cooked ripe berries are edible and much-used, but the raw berries, leaves, bark, stems and roots are toxic (cyanogenic glycosides) and cause nausea and vomiting; never eat berries raw or unripe. It is also vigorous and can sucker and seed about, so give it room or plan to prune it hard.

In the designer

Growth over time

96-240" tall · 96-180" spread

Mature broad shrub at full size; vigorous and self-seeding, best kept in check by hard pruning if it outgrows its spot.

Design roles: Structure · Border · Pollinator

Seasonal interest

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Filled = the plant has seasonal interest · ▾ now = your current season

Black elder

At a glance

Related products

Why it matters

Cold hardiness

Heat tolerance

Where this plant fits

What it needs

Lifecycle

Pollination

Plants don't grow alone

For people

Climate notes

In the designer

Seasonal interest

Sources & citations