I’m going to cover two different ways to root Elderberry bushes in this blog- one by water and one by dirt.
Get yourself some elderberry branches- healthy ones from a living plant. I’ve bought them from Etsy – this shop and this shop have both worked out well for me.
Put them in water in a cup like so
Change the water out every few days and keep them in a darkish place
They’ll start sprouting leaves pretty quickly. Once they’ve started growing roots, put them in dirt like so-
You can also start them in dirt like I did last year-
I laid the sticks out horizontally and covered them with dirt. Then I kept them very well hydrated- and also in a greenhouse for the first few weeks. The picture above was from when I started hardening them off.
Elderberries love water so it’s important to keep them that way. Otherwise, they tolerate a host of conditions so, don’t be afraid to start some of these yourself!
Now, I’m going to state that my preferred method is by dirt- they seem to start slower, but have little to no transplant shock. I started 8 in dirt and got 7 to root. I started 12 in water and lost all but two when I put them in dirt. Other people may have better results for different reasons, but I have much higher success rates with plants if I just go straight to dirt, overall.
The last frontier would be starting them from seed- so maybe next year.
Until next time, have a wicked good day!
Gillis Gardens, LLC 