Elderberry

Nothing brings more birds to a yard faster than elderberry in fruit. and the June flowers are a pollinator event.

Elderberry is a full ecosystem in a single shrub. The giant flat white flower clusters in June attract so many pollinators that on a warm afternoon the noise is audible from twenty feet away. The deep purple-black berries ripen in August and September, edible for humans when cooked, and taken immediately by over forty bird species including woodpeckers, bluebirds, and catbirds, which arrive in groups and strip clusters in hours. This is the plant that turns a yard into something alive. It's also completely unfussy about conditions. Wet soil, clay, average soil, stream banks, woodland edges. Elderberry fills in fast and doesn't complain. It grows to eight to twelve feet quickly, making it an excellent fast screen or naturalized thicket plant. The compound foliage is fine and attractive. Cut it hard to the ground every few years to keep it productive and dense.