Invitation to Plant an Elder Wand; Stop Talking Start Planting

Hi there fellow people of action! I'm Orla Farrell, teacher, new grandmother and lover of all things easy!

Our project here in Ireland is called "Easy Treesie". We answered German schoolboy Felix's challenge to plant a million trees in our country (we have a million school children...sounds easy, right?)

Have you planted a million trees in your country yet with your schoolchildren?

I do recommend it, best of fun.

Of course we are lucky in Ireland with lots of rain and lots of space for tree planting...we were 80% trees after the ice age, since then we went down to 1.5% trees (yes! worst in Europe alas! a long story), now we are still only at just over 11 per cent. 

Anyway here is the challenge; can you plant an elder wand? Elder - used for champagne, wine, cordial, jam and making flutes. Sambucus Nigra grows in lots of EU countries (ever tried Sambuca? ) In French sureau, Sp saúco, Holunder in German so I'm told, is that right? If you cut a stick from such a tree and put it in a big vase of water it will grow roots you can watch or just poke it into the ground! A free tree! You can get hundreds of wands from just one middle-sized tree without harming the tree, you may even improve it. We got this tip from our friends in the Netherlands, Meer Bomen Nu (more trees now). 

So are you on? If you can't find elder in 2024 we are "Planting a Whomping Willow", in 2025 Planting Blackthorn, in 2026 Planting Poplar. They are all free if you ask whoever owns the tree! Let us know on our Easy Treesie social media how you get on! Let's have a Treevolution!