Blonde Envy Elderberry. This is a new selection of our native Elderberry with gold foliage, and it proves to be much better than other gold-leaf cultivars on the market. Keith Mearns of Historic Columbia found this on a railroad right-of-way near Columbia, SC. Keith named it in regards to its better performance than other gold-leaf cultivars which were selections made in a more northern climate. When grown in full sun, the foliage is a stunning gold. It does just as well in part shade, but the foliage color is more chartreuse. It will produce the same umbel of white flowers as the species, and if there is another clone nearby for cross-pollination, it will produce deep purple edible fruit. This selection will also tolerate wet feet for a period of time, and does better when grown with uniform moisture. As one can see from the last picture they produce a good crop of berries, even though the panicles may not be as large as some of the named fruiting clones, they are just as edible.
Zones 5-9 (maybe even much colder)
