Thinking About Elderberries

I've been thinking about getting a few elderberry bushes for a while now. Why do I want elderberries? Because I want to make elderberry syrup. From all I've read this syrup is a pretty good preventative for colds, flues and related illnesses. Sure could of used it last year when dear Don was sicker then ever with a cold he just couldn't shake and turned into a lung infection. Apparently if you take a tablespoon a day, it acts as a preventative. And if, by chance you do catch a flu/cold, you up the dosage to 2 tablespoons and the cold doesn't hang around as long. So they say. I won't know until I try it. But I figure even if it doesn't work, I have a syrup for pancakes.

Last year, I did try to get some. I figured it would be a fairly simple procedure. Go down to the local nursery, announce I want some elderberry bushes and be directed to the right area of a immense greenhouse conglomeration that not only includes numerous greenhouses but wandering paths, garden paraphernalia (what's with the gaudy painted real ugly gnomes? Really, they are enough to make any garden give up and not grow anything) and bunches of people, some with carts laden with plants others wondering where they are and more importantly where they are supposed to be. (WOW, I think I just became the unofficial queen of the run-on sentence. Wonder if the the Guinness book of Records has that category).

Unfortunately, it was not the case, getting elderberry bushes, I mean. First I was asked if I wanted the decorative type or the common type. That got a blank stare from me. I said I wanted the one that I can make syrup from. The blank stare was promptly returned to me. After a bit of a discussion the nice helpful lady and I decided that I likely wanted the common variety. Then I was told they didn't have any. She said she'd order some in and she couldn't order any because they're all out. I thanked her for her time and did not say "You could have saved me 45 minutes simply by saying you were all out of both the common and decorative type." But I learnt more about elderberries and about patience and that's worth 45 minutes.

So home I go to find out more about elderberries. I know they are native to PEI which makes them very attractive to me. I'm not crazy about evasive species whether they are plants or wildlife. I figured it would be good to have their botanical name so I get the right type of elderberry. The elderberry bush I need is Sambucus Canadensis. I also found out the the PEI Forestry Department GIVES these things away because they are indigenous to PEI and they want to encourage people to grow native plants. Unfortunately the department were all out and so that ended my plan to plant elderberries last year. So today I will phone the department and order my elderberries. Hopefully that will go well, but based on my experience last year, I'm not counting my elderberries before I grow 'em.