What a delight to see my elderberry bush is finally in bloom this year!
Four years ago, I planted the bush along the side of the back yard. I was looking forward to the white clusters of flowers, black lacy leaves, and spreading habit of the bush.
As well as providing food for the birds.
But, due to a leak in my neighbor’s sprinkling system, the ground near the elderberry got soaked.
Like a miniature underground pond that I didn’t discover until two years later, when I was trying to figure out why the bush had stunted growth.
Elderberries like moist soil and they can be pretty adaptable to different soils.
But like many plants, elderberry doesn’t tolerate standing water.
The bush hadn’t put out more than two inches of growth in two years when I decided it was time to dig it out and consider planting something else in the same location.
I didn’t know about the water issue.
Until my first shovel of dirt revealed standing water not more than five inches in the ground.
A puddle of water that kept filling up.
Which surprised me!
I wasn’t sure what could be causing so much water to gather until I looked on the other side of the fence.
And found one of my neighbor’s sprinkler heads.
After talking with my neighbor, they had their sprinkler maintenance person come out who discovered the system was broken in that area.
And had been leaking water underground for the past few years.
Thankfully, my neighbor’s sprinkling system is fixed now.
And my elderberry bush has new branches sprouting in several directions.
Can’t wait to see the fruit in the fall!
