Blueblossom

Eastern Australian temperate forests

Edwards Plateau savanna

Fynbos shrubland

New Zealand North Island temperate forests

Piney Woods

Willamette Valley oak savanna

Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

Puget lowland forests

Sambucus nigra ssp. cerulea

Plant this, not that

Better fit for this place

For Chicago, IL, these are replacement suggestions: similar plants with a stronger hardiness fit now and/or in 2050.

Blue elderberry

A large multi-stemmed native shrub-to-small-tree of western North America, named for the dusty powder-blue drupes that ripen in late summer over a waxy bloom. Flat-topped creamy-white flower cymes up to 10 inches across rise above pinnately compound serrated foliage in early summer, drawing birds and butterflies. The cooked fruit is edible and prized for jelly, pie, and wine, but the plant earns a "high maintenance" note for suckering, wind/snow breakage, and a roster of fungal and insect pests.

A western North American native large shrub or small multi-stemmed tree that erupts in clouds of magenta-pink pea-family flowers along bare branches in early spring - often before the leaves expand. The round, heart-shaped blue-green leaves with palmate venation follow, and flat 2-4 inch seed pods ripen burgundy-red and persist into winter. A drought-tolerant, butterfly- and bee-supporting native of dry slopes from northern California east to southern Utah and south to Arizona.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Cercis occidentalis

Western redbud

A fast, suckering native shrub of streambanks and moist thickets across eastern North America, grown for huge flat-topped cymes of tiny lemon-scented white flowers in early summer and the clusters of dark elderberry drupes that follow. Spreads by root suckers into naturalized colonies 5 to 12 feet tall and wide; the flowers feed butterflies and the showy fruit feeds birds. The raw berries are not eaten fresh - they are cooked into jelly, pie, and wine.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Sambucus canadensis

American elderberry

A small native tree with white spring flowers, edible summer berries, and copper to red fall color.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Amelanchier canadensis

Canadian serviceberry

Sambucus nigra ssp. cerulea

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Blue elderberry

A large multi-stemmed native shrub-to-small-tree of western North America, named for the dusty powder-blue drupes that ripen in late summer over a waxy bloom. Flat-topped creamy-white flower cymes up to 10 inches across rise above pinnately compound serrated foliage in early summer, drawing birds and butterflies. The cooked fruit is edible and prized for jelly, pie, and wine, but the plant earns a "high maintenance" note for suckering, wind/snow breakage, and a roster of fungal and insect pests.

The signature evergreen shrub of the California chaparral and coastal foothills - leathery, sharply toothed dark-green leaves, flat-topped clusters of small white summer flowers, and the brilliant red pomes that earned it the names Christmasberry and California holly (and, by way of the Hollywood hills, supposedly the name "Hollywood"). Long-lived and deeply drought-tolerant; the winter berries feed more than twenty bird species when little else is fruiting.

Heteromeles arbutifolia

Toyon

A western North American native large shrub or small multi-stemmed tree that erupts in clouds of magenta-pink pea-family flowers along bare branches in early spring - often before the leaves expand. The round, heart-shaped blue-green leaves with palmate venation follow, and flat 2-4 inch seed pods ripen burgundy-red and persist into winter. A drought-tolerant, butterfly- and bee-supporting native of dry slopes from northern California east to southern Utah and south to Arizona.

A fast, suckering native shrub of streambanks and moist thickets across eastern North America, grown for huge flat-topped cymes of tiny lemon-scented white flowers in early summer and the clusters of dark elderberry drupes that follow. Spreads by root suckers into naturalized colonies 5 to 12 feet tall and wide; the flowers feed butterflies and the showy fruit feeds birds. The raw berries are not eaten fresh - they are cooked into jelly, pie, and wine.

A small native tree with white spring flowers, edible summer berries, and copper to red fall color.

Amelanchier canadensis

Canadian serviceberry

A multi-stemmed deciduous large shrub or small tree native to central China, grown for a dense early-spring display of rosy purple-pink pea-family flowers borne directly on bare branches and trunks before the leaves expand. The glossy, rounded heart-shaped leaves follow, and flat bean-like seed pods ripen and persist into winter. More shrubby and densely branched than the native eastern redbud, it makes a compact spring focal point for zones 6-9.