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Ranch Elderberry

Sambucus canadensis 'Ranch'

Regular price $8333
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Under $50 $9.99
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Plant Profile & Growing Essentials

Cold hardy, Fast-growing, Native, Flowering, Wet Soils, Clay Tolerant, Edible, Ornamental Berries/Fruit, Hedge/Screen, and Attracts pollinators

Specifications

  • Botanical Name
    Sambucus canadensis 'Ranch'
  • Height
    5-6 ft
  • Width
    5-6 ft
  • Growing Zones
    3-9
  • Sunlight
    • Full sun
  • Growth Rate
    Fast
  • Flower Color
    • White
  • Leaf Color
    • Green
    • Yellow
  • Native
    Yes
  • Pollinator Friendly
    Yes
  • Pollinator Required
    Yes
  • Bloom Period
    Late Spring

Planting & Care Instructions

Where to Plant

  • Sunlight: Ranch Elderberry performs best in full sun, requiring at least six to eight hours of direct light to ensure heavy fruit production. While it manages in partial shade, you will notice fewer berries and a more open, leggy growth habit compared to plants in full sun.
  • Soil: These shrubs prefer moist, slightly acidic soil that is rich in organic matter. If you have heavy clay, mix in compost to improve drainage, or for sandy soils, add peat moss to help hold moisture around the shallow root system.

Watering Requirements

During the first year, provide about one inch of water per week to help the roots settle into their new home. Once established, the Ranch variety is surprisingly tough, but inconsistent moisture during the summer will lead to smaller, shriveled berries and premature leaf drop. Think of steady watering as the fuel needed to keep those heavy clusters of fruit juicy and plump.

Pruning Tips

Because elderberries bloom on a mix of old and new wood, the best approach is to prune in early spring before new growth starts. Remove any dead or broken canes first, then cut back about one third of the oldest stems to the ground to encourage fresh, productive shoots. This "renewal pruning" keeps the shrub from becoming a tangled mess and ensures the plant directs its energy into the most vigorous branches.

Fertilizer Needs

Apply a balanced, slow release fertilizer in early spring as the buds begin to swell. Avoid using high nitrogen fertilizers late in the summer, as this encourages tender new growth that won't have time to harden off before the first frost. This late season "growth spurt" can lead to significant winter dieback and sap the plant's energy for the following spring.

Ranch Elderberry Bush (Sambucus canadensis 'Ranch') is a smaller, more compact selection of native American Elderberry makes the fruit easier to harvest` An excellent anti-viral use to fight colds and flu, Elderberry is great for making wines and preserves and is considered a superfruit!

The big fluffy, flat-topped blooms are comprised of loads of tiny little white blossoms! These are a favorite among butterflies, bees, and beneficial insects! The tropical-looking foliage is long and comprised of many smaller leaflets that form and fill out fast! In August or September, the berries form and are highly desirable to songbirds and wildlife!

You'll get far more fruit per shrub when you plant Ranch with another Sambucus canadensis variety like Adams, or American native Elderberry bushes. That means more fruit for jams and medicinal preparations and more fruit for your songbirds and wildlife!

The Ranch Elderberry Bushes are hardy and adaptable throughout USDA growing zones 3 through 9. These shrubs form compact 5-6 feet in mature height and width, growing fast and slowly spreading by suckers that are easily controlled with pruning.

Planting and Application:

Ranch Elderberry is great for screening and privacy, the tropical leafy foliage makes ideal informal hedges! Edible gardening shrubs are ideal double-duty shrubs with delectable clusters of berries that hang heavy each late summer. These are great flowering ornamentals with loads of superfruit that taste great in syrups, jam and dried for tea!

These bushes fill out in medicinal and frilly flowers that are great as backdrops in pollinator gardens and the fruiting shrubs are also great along the north end of your veggie or kitchen garden! These are great wildlife and songbird shrubs and ideal shelterbelts and windbreaks that carry 3 seasons of interest. Elderberry fruit forms large clumps that spread slowly via suckering growth, these create their own natural groves!

These suckering shrubs are fantastic at holding back eroding slopes and stabilizing banks, handling more moisture as well as xeric sites alike! You'll easily create naturalized groupings, wildlife habitats, and sunny woodland areas.

  • Flat Clusters of White Blossoms
  • Big Clumps of Black Berries
  • Tropical Green Foliage
  • Great Pollinator, Songbird & Wildlife Shrubs
  • Hedges, Informal Screens & Shelterbelts

#ProPlantTips for Care:

Elderberry bushes prefer moist soil and full sun, but are tolerant of a wide variety of soil conditions and even partial shade (but you'll have significantly fewer flowers and fruit). Provide a mulched location and regular water their first year, but once established, Elderberry bushes are somewhat drought tolerant, fast and easy to grow!

Elderberry flowers and fruits on old wood (last year's wood) so wait until the flowers fade before pruning. But since this can remove any fruit that would later form, so instead, it is recommended you renewal prune every 3-4 years.

  • Full Sun Shrubs
  • Moist Well-Drained Soil
  • Highly Adaptable
  • Prune When Dormant
  • Fall Color!

Ranch Elderberry Bushes are fantastic, compact edible, and medicinal plants that are a huge boost to pollinators, birds and wildlife in your area! Order your own ornamental edible Elderberry bushes today at NatureHills.com!

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