Elderflowers.....

[Bexy]

First off i dont know if this is in the right place (sorry)

I Live in lincoln and i really want to make some elderflower Cordial or similar but for the life of me i cannot find a tree .... i have an ID book but the pics are not 100% clear...

Does anybody live in lincoln or anyone who as visited know where one is ... please

[snohare]

Sorry, don't know Lincolnshire well enough to say where you would find one...but I can tell you exactly how to identify it if you think it is one.
If it has a stem which looks like a pencil - a circular cross-section which is flattened into sides, so that it has "edges" running along its length - and leaves that look like an ash tree's, that's an elderflower bush. The twigs are usually snaky as well, so not straight pencils, more ones that have been designed in a hall of magic mirrors !
Last but not least, the smell of an elderflower bush's flowers is unique, if you ever smell one and have it identified you will always know it again.
Be warned - the cordial will make you p*** like a horse !

[Two_Sheds]

Does anybody... know where one is ... please

If I told you, I'd have to kill you

Seriously, I don't tell anyone where "my" elders or sloes are, they is top secret

[Farmer_Gyles]

to help with elderberry tree spotting, this is the elderberry tree at the bottom of the garden, behind my greenhouse ....
photo taken today .... elderberry trees should be in flower now so should be easy to spot!

[Two_Sheds]

Yep, elders are flowering all around us now. The blossoms look kind of flat, and are white. Get a look at the leaves, so you don't confuse it with anything else (last year people were picking rowan blossom by mistake), and remember to leave some to turn into berries

[Bexy]

Thank you

[MyLifeWithAndrew]

to help with elderberry tree spotting, this is the elderberry tree at the bottom of the garden, behind my greenhouse .... [ATTACH=CONFIG]29774[/ATTACH]
photo taken today .... elderberry trees should be in flower now so should be easy to spot!

That is GINORMOUS!
Mine is the size of your table

[Farmer_Gyles]

one carrier bag full of elderflowers picked yesterday - had to use long handled loppers because the tree is so tall - we now have a gallon of elderflower wine on the go and about a gallon of elderflower cordial

several bags worth still up there to become elderberries - i'll need to climb the apple tree to pick the elderberries tho

we're off to the mother-in-law's today - if the rain holds off, we'll be raiding her elderflower tree too - and that will probably become a couple of gallons of elderflower cordial

[GardenFaery]

See also 'Season To taste' Elderflower Recipe thread