Elder Hedging

Elder hedging, Sambus Nigra, or Elderberry is a very familiar shrub or small tree commonly found in gardens and native hedgerows.

There are up to 30 species of deciduous shrubs, small trees and smaller herbaceous perennial plants in the Elder or Sambucus group that are usually found in the northern hemisphere but a few in Australasia and South America, all grown for their flowers and fruit and some for their ornamental leaves.

The large flat clusters of white flowers on Sambucus nigra appear in summer, often picked to use as an infusion to go with gooseberry dishes or to make wine, cordial or tea and sometimes used for medicinal purposes although effectiveness is not proven. The glossy black berries which replace the flowers and look so attractive en masse are similarly used for culinary purposes and in pies, flavouring yoghurts and making relishes. Traditionally the hollowed-out twigs of Elder have been used as an outlet to tap Maple trees for syrup. It is always recommended that the berries are cooked and not eaten raw. Birds and some moths larvae favour the Elder both feeding voraciously on the plant, a flock of birds has been known to strip the berries of a bush in no time.

A fast-growing plant, Sambucus nigra is more often found near farms as it prefers a nitrogen rich soil and so tends to grow near sites of organic waste as well as chalky soils and coastal sites. Growing at a rate of up to 60cm per year it will provide a dense hedge very quickly up to about 5 metres high. We would recommend 2-3 plants per metre and trimming as necessary.

Elder is supplied in bare root form and is available during the season when they are dormant from November until March. This is a very economical way to buy plants if you are working to a budget, however they will ideally need to be planted within a few days of delivery so it is a good idea to get the ground preparation done in advance.

Should you have any further questions regarding Sambucus nigra or any other bare root plant do phone one of our team and we will be only too pleased to help.

Delivery is free for most orders above our free delivery thresholds, these are displayed above our prices in the product listings and summarized below. If you don’t need that many plants it’s not a problem, you can choose to pay our delivery charge and only order what you need.

Delivery is convenient – no signature is required so you don’t need to wait in, we will leave your parcel in the safe place that you nominate.

Delivery is fast – because we pick orders daily from our own growing beds your plants only travel the small hop to our packing shed before being sent to you, they are usually delivered within 3-7 days.

Delivery is reliable – we have been selling and delivering Hedging Plants to our customers nationwide since 1992. We have a lot of experience in packing them safely and only use tried and tested delivery partners.

Smaller Plants (Parcel Delivery)

Heavy Plants (Pallet Delivery)

Tall Plants 2.5m+ (Specialist Delivery)

Exceptions to our delivery charges are Scottish Highland and Isle of Wight delivery areas where we need to charge a little extra to cover the cost of deliveries to these outlying areas. We don’t currently delivery to other offshore addresses including Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.

Tall plants over 2.5 metres have to be delivered by our own specialised transport, our delivery area is limited to mainland England and Wales only.

Please note there is a minimum order value of £50 for orders containing smaller plants and £250 for orders containing heavier plants

Complete delivery information can be viewed on our Delivery Information page