We put them in areas that get a lot of water flow during rainfall, and we put the stakes in during December, midwinter in NC, to allow the stakes to develop very strong root systems on until spring. The roots secure the ground, the elderberries thrive on the big rain events, and erosion is decreased significantly.
The lives stakes look like sticks, and at our local native plant nursery the cost was 80 CENTS each. At this price you can easily purchase many and really address storm run-off issues for very little cost.
The fact that it’s elderberry is icing on the cake. Elderberry blooms are lovely, feed pollinators, and the berries are wonderful and feed wildlife and can be used by humans to make the amazing elderberry syrup, wine, etc. I’m eager to see these mature and hope we can harvest some in the next year or two.
Neat! Have you ever made the wine or syrup.
ReplyDeleteFor years I’ve made elderberry syrup with local honey and organic dried elderberries - it’s delicious and wonderful for coughs/colds/flu. I hope with both bees and elderberry bushes on site, I can eventually make it from our own honey and berries! It’s super easy to make the syrup. I’m not sure about the wine - will see how that goes when we get enough berries to give it a try. Our local meadery makes elderberry mead, and that might also be something fun to try. :)
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