Wildly nutritious fruit on fast-growing plants. Broad, flat clusters of tiny white flowers appear in spring, beautiful in bouquets or battered and fried, much like you might do with zucchini blossoms. The wonderfully fragrant blooms become hefty clusters of deep, dark-purple berries that are packed with super-antioxidants. Use the fruit in jelly, jam, pies and cobblers or for syrup and wine. Attracts pollinators like hummingbirds and bees. Cold-hardy. Ripens in early August. Pollinator required: Choose any other elderberry variety.
| Bloom Color | White |
| Fruit Color | Purple |
| Fruit Size | Large |
| Ripens/Harvest | Early August |
| Taste | Sweet |
| Texture | Soft |
| Soil Composition | Loamy,Sandy |
| Soil pH Level | 5.5-6.5 |
| Soil Moisture | Well Drained |
| Shade Level | Partial Shade – Full Sun |
| Years to Bear22 | 2 – 3 |
| Hardiness Zone Range | 4 – 8 |
Mature Size
When your plant matures, it will be approximately 1.8 – 3 m tall x 1.8 – 2.4 m wide (6 – 10′ tall x 6 – 8′ wide).
Recommended Spacing
We recommend spacing these plants 1.8 – 2.4 m (6 – 8′) apart to ensure room for growth.
Ship Height
Bare-root Ships 0.2 – 0.3 m tall (8 – 12” tall).
Potted Ships .3 – .9 m (1 – 3′) tall with advanced root system in a 10x10x25 cm (4x4x10″) EZ Start® Pot.
This variety requires another one for adequate pollination.
Cross-pollination by a different variety is key to its growing and bearing success. Plant one of these varieties within 1.8 – 2.4 meters (6 – 8′ feet) for best pollination.
CALEB STROH –
Planted 2020, started producing heavily in 2021. Grown in Utah, USA. Silty/loam/clay soils, 7.5 pH. Has done well and stayed relatively small (5-7ft) Berries produced are small/med in size but plant is very productive.
thomas abel –
Great and would have had berries, but the John’s elderberry I ordered didn’t make it, it died because it only had one tiny 3 inch root tailing. I tried like crazy, but that one didn’t survive. The Nova had a complete root system and is doing Great.
Lisa Brunette –
We planted this and the Adams variety next to each other in the fall of 2019 and had a huge crop of berries by the next summer.
Sandy Gilleland –
I purchased a Nova, Adams, and York plant 2 yrs ago. I’m in NC piedmont, 7B. They all grew great and each had a few berries first year. This year I have a fantastic harvest and the Nova is outperforming the others. The heads are the size of large dinner plates and full. The pictures here don’t do justice. The other 2 are doing great also, but Nova seems to be fruiting more. All are suckering, so i’ll have more plants. This one ripens a couple wks ahead of the other 2 and is a little shorter. I can tell no difference in berry taste or otherwise between the 3, but all are much bigger and nicer than the wild ones. Drying the harvest now for making syrup.
Bill Orchard –
I got them in water right away and everything seemed fine for the first 3 months, and then they just started dyeing. I wasn’t impressed.Thanks,
DAVID HERRIVEN –
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves elderberries. I got this last year and it wintered well, nice and healthy!
INDIRA DARST –
It survived its first winter and is growing quite leafy and strong.
TAMI WYLIE –
My Nova Elderberry didn’t make it. However, my one York Elderberry did. They were in the same soil so I don’t know what went wrong.??
Olga Rehn –
Our USDA zone is 6b (7 by zip code), MD. My husband and I purchased Nova Elderberry (along with York) in the spring of 2017. It took a year for the plant to adopt the environment, but the next year (2018) it took off so well it tripled the size and produced berries. This spring of 2019, the tree looks so healthy it makes me smile! :) Both of them do! I know how hard it is to see your fruit tree dies, but this one will please you with its survival abilities. (Olga)
Micah Powers –
I bought a Nova & a York bareroot & also potted of those varieties. I had berries the first year on the bare root. I couldn’t believe it! Very thankful that I ordered these & i’m excited to see what each year brings from these plants.