York and Nova elderberries

Hello all I was wondering if anybody here’s got any experience growing the York and/or Nova cultivars of elderberry, and more specifically if they could be grown successfully very far south (Georgia/Florida border zone 8b). I know plenty of other varieties do great here, I’m just curious if these plants originating so far north will do well here because I heard they have the sweetest and largest berries as well as having a heavier yield so I’d like to give them a try

Nova and York grow carefree in my 6b/7a garden. Be prepared, they are big, about 8ft.tall and 8 ft.across. Very heat and drought resistant.

I have a York in Southern Or. 8b.  I’m really mediearanean with a summer drought in a foothill and it’s OK.  I imagine humid summers east coast 8b is going to be better.  

We have wild blue EBs here but only along creeks in canyons with dappled light and plenty of moisture.  Same sort of environment as vine maple.

I have blue elderberry and eastern black elderberry (canadensis) in my yard. Blue elderberry grows all the way from Western Montana South to Southern California and beyond.

Stark Brothers says zones 4-8 for Nova and York.

If they don't flourish try Canadensis

https://www.fnps.org/plants/plant/sambucus-nigra-subsp-canadensis

William Schlegel wrote:I have blue elderberry and eastern black elderberry (canadensis) in my yard. Blue elderberry grows all the way from Western Montana South to Southern California and beyond.

Stark Brothers says zones 4-8 for Nova and York.

If they don't flourish try Canadensis

https://www.fnps.org/plants/plant/sambucus-nigra-subsp-canadensis

I actually have plenty of other elderberries, 6 wild and 6 “John” elderberry, (and I did actually just get 4 blue elderberries!) so I know there’s plenty that flourish here, and I do plan to get other cultivars like Adams and bob Gordon. My main concern was just that it’s too hot down here for those two specific cultivars because they originated so far north, but we definitely have plenty of moisture here, lots of rain year round and humidity, so as long as they’re heat tolerant I’m hoping they’ll do well! Everywhere I’ve read says zones 4-8, I just wanted to see if there was anyone successfully growing it in this climate, because they are apparently the best “commercial” varieties and I am in the process of starting an elderberry farm, so I want to get the most productive varieties

Jim Wineteer wrote:I have a York in Southern Or. 8b.  I’m really mediearanean with a summer drought in a foothill and it’s OK.  I imagine humid summers east coast 8b is going to be better.  

We have wild blue EBs here but only along creeks in canyons with dappled light and plenty of moisture.  Same sort of environment as vine maple.

Hoping this thread can still be invigorated…🤔

Jim, or anyone on West coast, would you say the native Western elderberry can tolerate seasonal flooding or swampy conditions (somewhat like blueberries)?

I recall the East coast wild varieties (probably S. canadensis) growing in swampy areas, where my mother would take us to pick them.

Now, living on the West coast, I wondered whether the S.mexicana/cerulea would have that same propensity??

Thanks 🙏

Oh I forgot to mention, that swampy condition would be *seasonal* for the Western native elderberry. It is of course dry all warm season  here for 6 months.