R J Trees and Hedging Ltd Registered office The School, The Green, Biddestone, SN14 7DG, United Kingdom, Registered in GB
Company Registration Number 13563017 VAT no. 392152401
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Elder (Sambucus nigra)
£0.99
10% off Orders over £1000+VAT
15% off Orders over £2000+VAT
Minimum order value (all plants) is £300+VAT
Free Delivery over £300+VAT excl Highlands and Islands
Please order plants in multiples of 25
Key Features
Elder (Sambucus nigra) is
- Suitable as a hedge plant or woodland shrub
- Native
- Deciduous
- Flowers and berries
Grown on our farm in Herefordshire. Buy with confidence - read our customer reviews.
The specifications shown below are our normal range but we often have additional options. If there is something that you are looking for, it's often worth contacting us.
Please contact us if you would prefer to order on the phone or have any questions or to discuss a discount for larger quantities.
Full Product Description
Our range of Elder bare root plants (Sambucus nigra)
We have bare root elder hedging or trees in several sizes. The 1+0 specification plants are seedlings (often called whips) which were sown from seed in the spring and are sold during the following November to April months ie they are one year old. We have elder bare root whips in several heights.
We always have several batches of seed of elder including UK provenance and the highest quality imported seed so if the seed provenance is particularly important to you, please give us a call so that we can allocate plants from the most appropriate batch.
All of these plants are suitable as hedging plants or can be allowed to grow as full sized shrubby trees.
Elder (Sambucus nigra) Summary
Famed for its flowers (which make elderflower cordial) and berries (poisonous until cooked into elderberry wine, jam, crumble and lots of other berry recipes) Elder is a very common hedging and woodland shrub throughout the UK growing in all soil conditions (including poor reclaimed land) with a preference to moist soils. It is very vigorous so can be used on its own to form a dense screen in double quick time but it is most often found as a component in a mixed native hedge. It is very wildlife friendly with moth caterpillars feeding on the leaves, many insects getting nectar from the pollen (and dormice and voles eat the flowers as well) and then abundant purple-black berries which are eaten by birds and mammals.
Soil and Situation
A sunny to partially shaded situation and moist soil. Elder is tolerant to road salt so often seen in highway hedgerows.
Leaves, flowers and fruits
The leaves are ovate, pinnate (like a feather) and opposite with a serrated edge and in autumn the leaves turn pale yellow some tinged with pink and some strongly pink.
The flowers are showy in large umbels (up to 30cm across) of creamy coloured tiny flowers with 5 petals and are very highly scented and hence their use in elderflower cordial. Elder flowers in early June, after the big show of Blackthorn and Hawthorn are finished so it is an important supply of pollen and nector.
The fruits are purple/black drupes (sour berries) used in cooking and much sought after by wildlife. They should not be eaten raw by humans and leaves/stems are also toxic if consumed in their raw state.
Eventual height and growth rate
If left unpruned, Elder will grow to about 5m, but it responds well to hedge trimming. It has a fast growth rate initially.
This plant species is from the Adoxaceae family.
Delivery Information
Free Delivery
For deliveries of orders over £300 + VAT, (which is our minimum order value) we have free delivery to all mainland areas nationwide. If you are in the Scottish Highlands or any of the Islands, please email us or call us and we will quote you a delivery charge which we will subsidise.
All orders are despatched on pallets and will be delivered to the kerbside. We will email you to tell you when your order has been despatched and that email will contain a link so that you can track your delivery.
You can request a specific delivery date when you place your order and we will do our very best to accommodate that date but cannot be held responsible if we do not meet it.
Collections from Ross-on-Wye
You can collect your plants by arrangement with our office team. Please ring us on 01989 552028 to agree a collection date. The postcode for collections is HR9 7TF.
As a trade nursery, we normally despatch stock unbagged (packed horizontally on pallets) but we can offer two bagging options.
Bagging Options
We have two options for despatching plants in bags (you do not need to have them bagged but it is advisable if there is any delay in planting and where you have large quantities, delay in planting some is inevitable).
- Very heavy duty black bags - normally used by farmers, landowners, landscapers etc
- Co-extruded bags which are white on the outside, to reflect sunlight, and black inside, to retain moisture on the roots - normally used by foresters.
In both cases, there is a considerable labour cost to us in putting stock into bags, and then the air in the bags takes up a considerable amount of space on the pallet which means that we get many fewer plants onto a pallet compared with unbagged stock eg for 1+0 seedlings instead of approx. 10,000 plants per pallet of unbagged stock, we'd only get approx. 5,000 plants per pallet if they are bagged. There's also a significant labour cost in putting plants into bags compared with loose packing on a pallet (which is the normal method for nursery to nursery sales). Given that we pay the delivery cost on most orders, supplying stock in bags is a significant extra cost for us for some customers and hence we make a modest charge.
You can specifically request black or white bags on the website after you add plants to your shopping basket. Here is a link to the page Bagging Service for bare root plants for farms and forestry – rjtreesandhedging. Please order the same quantity as the number of plants you are buying - the pricing for bagging is per plant rather than per bag.