GARDENING: Mexican Elder a cool and hot plant

Mexican Elders sort of act like cool-season trees or you might say semi-evergreen. They are full of fresh new leaves as of recent and look great. Just like cool season plants they seem to grow best in cooler temperatures and they tolerate light to moderate frosts.

Mexican elder (Sambucus mexicana) is a small tree or large shrub that is wider than it is tall. It grows 15-25 feet tall and 25-35 feet wide and has some weeping branches. It will amaze you with it’s fast growth and it has a moderate life span. Mexican elder grows along stream beds in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas and does fairly well as a landscape ornamental in our area.

Plant Mexican elder in full to part sun and well drained soil. It is reported to get by on 7-inches of water a year once it is established. The compound leaves are a light, shiny green and will drop in the extreme heat and drought of summer and sometimes freezes in extreme winter cold. Extreme cold can sometimes kill above ground parts. Irrigation can help reduce summer leaf drop, but when it gets really hot...it wants to go summer dormant.

Flower are tiny and many in flat top clusters called cymes. The flower color is white, pale green or pale yellow. Clusters of small, waxy black berries follow the flowers and look blue. Berries can be messy if near sidewalks or patios. Native Indians used the fruit, bark and wood for various purposes and today we still use them for jelly, pies and wine as well as some medications. Birds love to feed on the berries.

Trees can be trained to a single or multi-trunk shape. The bark is heavy, deeply furrowed and thick which gives the tree old looking character. The wood is brittle a breaks easily. Prune to remove water sprouts, low limbs and otherwise neaten the vigorous tree.

Use Mexican elder as a buffer plant, wildlife food, accent tree or any place that calls for a small tree.

Mexican elder drops leaves in extreme summer heat, can freeze in winter cold and break in high winds. So, why grow it? It grows fast, it is drought tolerant and exhibits old character after a few years of growth -- a feat most trees will not reach in their lifetime.

Permian Basin Home Builder’s Home & Garden Show

• When: 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 25.
• Where: Midland County Horseshoe.
• Topics: “Tree Care & Selection,” by ISA Certified Arborist, James Tuttle; “Conservation in the Home,” by Executive Director of KMB, Doreen Womack; “Stewardship of Water,” Extension Water Resource Specialist, Gary Bryant; “Drought Tolerant Plants,” Retired Extension Horticulture Agent, Debbie Frost; “It is Xeriscaping (Not Zero-scaping),” Permian Basin Master Gardener, Nancy Lovett; and weather the weather by taking advantage of these educational programs presented by Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Permian Basin Master Gardeners and PB Home Builders Association.
• Call: 432-498-4071.