Thank you very much 1yellowdog. I have a lot of speckled alder but am always open to ways to expand it that I might be unfamiliar with. It is a great plant here and I remember some exciting hunts in alders back in the sixties and actually all the way up to today. So to spread it on your land you dug clumps and transplanted?
I dig it up all the time and transplant. I am attempting to break up an old hay field, and using for borders. I have wild plum, ninebark, chokecherry, dogwood, and the Speckled Elder has taken so much better than the others by leaps and bounds. I have 2 year old transplanted Speckler Elder that was probably 3' tall when I moved it, and its 12'-15' high now. All the other shrubs are 2-4'. I have caged all the other shrubs to protect from browse. The elder is bullet proof, and requires no protection from mice, rabbits and deer.
I am very fortunate on the plants I transplanted have spread in my pine trees, and are now 20+' high. My oldest are now spreading seed into the unmowed areas on my place, and I have been thinning out those areas for transplanting in our areas. I am getting to the point I might have to start brush hogging my volunteer elder.
It'll never beat the other shrubs in a beauty contest, but it has been fantastic at filling in my pines and using as edging. I have 500+ oak seedings, and I am going to start filling in the areas around the oak seedlings with elders too.
I'll be up to my place this weekend to cut a Christmas tree. I will take some pictures to share of my Speckled Elder.
