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Sambucus Gerda (Black Elder)
A Premium Ornamental Elder for the Modern Garden
Overview
Sambucus Gerda, also known as Black Elder, is an exceptional cultivar that transforms the traditional elderberry into a striking garden centrepiece. This compact, deciduous shrub offers year-round interest through its distinctive dark purple-black foliage, fragrant cream flowers, and clusters of edible berries. Perfect for gardeners seeking a plant that combines ornamental beauty with practical benefits.
Key Features
Foliage: The standout feature of Sambucus Gerda is its dramatic, deeply cut leaves that emerge bronze-purple in spring, maturing to an intense dark purple-black throughout the growing season. The finely dissected, lace-like foliage creates an elegant, almost fern-like texture that provides striking contrast against lighter-coloured plants.
Flowers: In early summer, the dark foliage is beautifully complemented by large, flat-topped clusters of creamy-white, fragrant flowers. These elderflower heads, measuring up to 20cm across, are not only visually stunning but also attract beneficial insects and can be harvested for culinary use in cordials, wines, and traditional recipes.
Fruit: Following the flowers, clusters of small, dark purple-black berries develop in late summer. These elderberries are edible when cooked and are prized for making jams, jellies, syrups, and wines, whilst also providing valuable food for wildlife.
Growing Requirements
Position: Thrives in full sun to partial shade, though the deepest foliage colour develops in sunny positions. Tolerates a wide range of exposures but benefits from some shelter from strong winds.
Soil: Highly adaptable to most soil types, including clay, loam, and sandy soils. Prefers moist, well-draining conditions but demonstrates good drought tolerance once established. Tolerates both slightly acidic and alkaline conditions (pH 6.0-8.0).
Hardiness: Fully hardy throughout the UK (RHS Hardiness H6), withstanding temperatures down to -20°C. Excellent cold tolerance makes it suitable for exposed and northern gardens.
Mature Size and Habit
Sambucus Gerda forms a well-branched, rounded shrub reaching approximately 2.0-2.5 metres in height and spread. Its naturally compact growth habit requires minimal pruning, making it ideal for smaller gardens or mixed borders where space is at a premium.
Planting and Care
Planting: Best planted in autumn or early spring. Dig a hole twice the width of the root ball and the same depth. Incorporate well-rotted compost or manure into the planting area. Water thoroughly after planting and apply a thick mulch around the base.
Maintenance: Low-maintenance once established. Water regularly during the first growing season. Annual feeding with a balanced fertiliser in early spring encourages vigorous growth and enhances foliage colour. Pruning is optional but can be carried out in late winter if required to maintain shape or size.
Garden Uses and Companion Planting
This versatile shrub excels in mixed borders, woodland gardens, or as a specimen plant. The dark foliage provides an excellent backdrop for lighter-coloured perennials such as silver artemisia, cream astilbe, or bright green hostas. Particularly effective when planted alongside ornamental grasses or other purple-foliaged plants for a sophisticated colour scheme.
Wildlife Benefits: The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, whilst the berries provide food for birds including blackbirds, thrushes, and finches during autumn and winter.
Seasonal Interest
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Spring: Emerging bronze-purple foliage with attractive leaf unfurling
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Summer: Peak foliage colour with spectacular fragrant flower displays
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Autumn: Rich berry clusters and potential autumn leaf colour
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Winter: Architectural bare stems with interesting bark texture
Special Notes
The elderflowers and berries offer culinary opportunities for the kitchen gardener, though berries should always be cooked before consumption. The plant's tolerance for urban pollution makes it suitable for city gardens, whilst its fast establishment and low maintenance requirements appeal to novice gardeners.
This remarkable cultivar proves that functional plants need not sacrifice beauty, delivering exceptional ornamental value alongside traditional elder benefits in a perfectly garden-sized package.
Buying Shrubs from Jacksons Nurseries
At Jacksons Nurseries we sell a variety of shrubs both evergreen and deciduous with a variety of flowering times throughout the year. At certain times of the year our shrubs you buy from us may not look like the images shown on our website when deciduous leaves have fallen, the shrub has finished flowering or has been trimmed back.
Some leaves on evergreen shrubs can be damaged in winter by frost or harsh winds but in spring new leaves will readily replace those damaged. This is quite normal on many evergreen varieties and is preferable to plants grown with excessive protection that show cold shock once planted out and establish less satisfactory initially.
Availability: Stock availability figures are provided as a guide only. There is a delay between orders being placed and the plants being gathered by our pulling team. During this time it may be possible for a member of the public to purchase these plants from our Garden Centre, while this is rare it is a possibility and we will notify you of any problems as soon as possible. This figure may also include plants that have not yet be flagged as unsaleable.
Pre-order: Pre-order times are given as a guide only and may vary dependent on the growing season. Orders containing Pre-ordered products will be shipped as a single order when all items become available. Large orders may be part shipped, please contact us on 01782 502741 or email sales@jacksonsnurseries.co.uk.
* Please Note: Shrubs in 20 litre pots and above might require a pallet delivery starting at £79.99 per pallet. Depending on the exact pot size and height it may be possible to get approximately 5 plants per pallet at no extra cost. The maximum height we can dispatch on a pallet is 2.0m, this includes the height of the pallet and pot.
Shrubs are deciduous or evergreen woody plants, and often provide fragrant flowers, berries and foliage. They are good for structural framework, and they can provide a wonderful shelter and food source for wildlife.
Planting and Conditions
Container grown shrubs can be grown at any time of year. It is a little known fact that shrubs planted in the autumn and winter will be easier to look after than those planted in the spring and summer, because they will have time to establish and become hardy in the cooler months.
Plant the shrub at the same depth as it was in its original pot. Planting too deeply can result in root and stem rot.
One of the biggest causes of death in new shrubs is drought stress, so keep it well watered until it’s established.
Make sure you loosen the soil prior to planting. Most shrubs are tolerant of most soil types as long as it is fairly well draining.
Most shrubs will grow happily in containers, but they will be much more demanding on feeding and watering than shrubs in the ground would be. They will also need potting on every couple of years so that they don’t suffocate or become stunted in their pot.
Aftercare and Pruning
Once established, shrubs generally do not require much water. However, at first they need careful, frequent watering and should not be left to dry out.
Shrubs in the ground are generally not demanding and in most cases, annual feeding with general purpose fertilizer will suffice. Shrubs in containers may need more feeding; usually from early spring until late summer.
Shrubs also benefit from mulching in order to supress weeds, conserve moisture and provide vital nutrients. Mulch also greatly improves soil conditions. Shrubs can be mulched in late winter, after fertiliser has been applied, but it can be mulched through autumn to late spring as long as the ground is damp.
All shrubs benefit from dead-heading once spent flowers become apparent. Rhododendrons and Lilac especially benefit from the removal of dead flowers.
Some shrubs may show signs of reverted growth or ‘sporting’. This is where random shoots of different leaves associated with the plant’s parentage begin to appear. Most commonly this is where plants with variegated leaves sprout pure green growths instead of variegated ones.
To control reversion, remove reverted shoots promptly to discourage them. Reverted shoots are usually much more vigorous than the variegated ones, and thus should be completely pruned out and cut back into wood containing variegated foliage.
Potential Issues
Although shrubs are usually very robust garden plants, they can sometimes start to decline with no apparent or obvious reason.
This will start with browning leaves, which could indicate plant stress due to lack of water or waterlogging, an establishment failure or, in the worst case scenario, honey fungus. Another cause of leaf browning is a high salt content in the soil. This could be a natural occurrence, especially if you live near the ocean, or it could be from over fertilisation.
To remedy a high salt content, cut back on fertiliser and step up your watering regime for the next few weeks. If you live by the ocean, this will be harder to remedy—but stepping up your watering will help to wash some of the salt away all the same.
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£12.99 |