I love growing my own elderberries. The cultivated varieties that I grow are tastier than the wild ones around here. I still harvest wild berries for wine making. Sounds like you'll have quite the patch when it all gets going!

Good Luck,
Little John

We grow our own elderberries too. Elderflowers and elderberries are yummy. You can make elderflower fritters. Elderflower tea is great if you have a fever. Elderberries make terrific syrup, jelly and pie. Can't imagine going through cold and flu season without elderberry syrup. Remember that elderberry seeds have a, well, laxative effect. In syrup and jelly, the seeds are strained out. In pie, whole berry is used. One slice of pie = good. Two slices of pie = good + library time.

Does anyone know how well the European varieties will do in Florida?

I would caution you about caerula to try to keep it in check. Mine grew very tall and the wood is very weak, so when the big snowstorm hit in 2008 many tall branches broke off in a circle all around. The berries got too far up to pick, too. It does attract the magnificent Pileated Woodpecker, though- Woody Woodpecker. York has been very slow growing and has nice berries but not very many. The ones developed for leaves apparently need coddling and have not been good for berries either, if not given a lot of water and fertilizer.