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Shrub ID

CraighBCraighB Posts: 758
in Plants
Hello guys :)

I wondered if anyone call tell me what this shrub is in my garden?

Thanks
Craigh

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    It's an elder
    The flowers make lovely wine or cordial

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    You can prune it to look like a little tree.

    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • CraighBCraighB Posts: 758
    The way you have pruned that @B3 looks brilliant! I will try that!

    Might even try that cordial @Pete.8

    Thanks guys!
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    edited June 2021
    Once you have pruned off the lower branches around the main stem, you need to shape it every year when the berries are finished by whatever eats them. It's easy because the stems will still be soft.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    edited June 2021
    Or make wine with the berries before the blackbirds get them
    I find elder lends itself to alcoholic drinks 
    I must get one 😁

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    It arrived in my garden, just where I wanted a small tree.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Elder flower wine is beautiful, my mum used to make it.  I didn't like the berry one but then I don’t like red wine. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    The berries are very tannic so the wine takes a couple of years + to mature.
    I still have a few bottles left from the 5 gallons I made in 1979 :)
    I last tried one about 5 years ago and it was like port

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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