In article eBzzd.7124$hc7.6393@trnddc06, "David J Bockman"
wrote:

It's tough to keep neat, tending to form massive, unkempt colonies.
Nevertheless, those fruits sure are prized by a wide variety of wildlife,
and I think it's gorgeous in flower. They tend to do best in wet areas.

Dave

Mine remain tidy, though there are so many species with so many cultivars
generalities are difficult. Of the European elderberry cultivars, I have
'Purpurea' & 'Black Beauty' as cross-pollinating companions. They are fast
growing but surprisingly tidy shrubs that require no attention to flower
gorgeously. When 'Purpurea' lived alone it did not fruit much, but now
that it lives with 'Black Beauty' it gets covered with fruit. I rarely
water them, & they are not bothered by our dry summers (the rest of the
year they get all the rain they need). Our Pacific Red Elderberry is more
tree than shrub & not tidy; it's a native that arrived in the garden as a
volunteer & is now as tall as our two-story house; most of its growth is
overhead & it has formed a really nice natural bower over the path, with a
huge sword-fern at its foot.

"Allview" wrote in message
...
In November I had a big spruce tree cut down and replaced it with a lot of
topsoil and whatever dormant bushes I could find at the local nurseries.
I
always intended to plant bushes for the birds but could find no berry
bushes.
Guess the birds will appreciate the cover. There is a large space at one
end
of this new garden and I would like to plant an elderberry as soon as I
can.
Will I be sorry? Do nursery grown elderberry bushes thrive? I have lots
of
space for it to spread. Is it a good idea or not? Sunny location.

Marilyn in Ohio (zone 5/6)

Elderberry cultivars are among the hardiest things on earth. In some
conditions they can be aggressive & troublesome & become 15 foot trees in
only two years, but that's mainly the wild elderberries; the cultivars are
more restrained, many remain compact bushes adaptable to sun or shade, dry
or wet conditions. Here's an article on the Mythology of Black Elderberry:
http://www.paghat.com/elderberrymyths.html
with links to pages about growing black elderberry & Pacific red elderberry.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com