Some say, "Oh, don't even attempt berries - they are so hard to grow!" Others say they are easy and can be squeezed into even the tiniest garden. I know I'm not attempting strawberries. They require lots of space and care, and produce only enough fruit to keep the slugs happy.

Garden writer Katherine Whiteside wrote about berry bushes in House Beautiful several years ago, and I clipped the article (obviously I wanted to do a berry garden several years ago). She suggested elderberry shrubs as a perfect plant for the back of a mixed border because they produce clouds of fluffy white flowers in midsummer. You'll need to plant two (for pollination purposes), and then sit back to watch the flower heads become voluptuous clusters of reddish-purple berries, according to Whiteside.

Elderberries need sun and fertile, moist soil. For the best foliage effect, either cut all shoots to the ground in winter or prune out old shoots and reduce the length of the young shoots by half. The American Horticultural Society's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers notes, "All parts may cause severe discomfort if ingested, although fruits are safe when cooked; contact with the leaves may irritate skin." Well, I'll have to put them at the back of the bed, keep the dogs away, and make jam!

A couple of good elderberry varieties, available at www.2009-02-26ediblelandscaping.com, are cut-leaf elder (Sambucus nigra 'Laciniata'), with feathered foliage, variegated elderberry for green and white leaves, and 'Black Beauty' for a dark-leafed shrub.

My daughter loves blueberries (I guess it's because they bring out the loveliest rash of any berry she eats, but she eats them anyway). So I'm considering a highbush blueberry. They can reach 10 feet in height, make clusters of white flowers like lily-of-the-valley in spring, produce berries in late summer, and their leaves turn bright red in the fall.

One of the most common varieties is Vaccinium corymbosum 'Pioneer.' It requires full sun, prefers moist soil, and needs acidic soil.

'Duke' is a heavy fruiter known to produce 20 pounds of berries on one mature shrub, and 'Chandler' produces the large, cherry-sized berries over a six-week season. An early-season, heat-beating berry bush is 'MistyBlue,' and a good bush for a large container is 'Sunshine Blue.'

Raspberries require their own patch, but I'm looking around to see if I can find a spot to stake out for these little beauties. I'm tired of paying the prices at the grocery store and finding more mold than berry in the box.

It used to be difficult to grow raspberries, but now there are a couple of relatively new hybrids that require no staking and yield a heavy crop from late summer until late fall. 'Heritage Red Fall Raspberry' and 'Kiwi Gold' can be weed-whacked to the ground in the spring, and will produce berries from the new canes in August.

Oh, I'm also trying to determine where I can hide these bushes from the deer ...

Tomato bugs

I read about Judy Weymouth, winner of the New Year's Resolution contest for Park Seed, who vowed not to plant Nicotiana ever again, and I wondered why. Last year, I planted it and it was fragrant and beautiful. I had it right next to the tomato plants, and while they performed terribly due to a major insect infestation, the Nicotiana was stunning.

Reading about Judy's experience, she pointed out that the lovely nighttime fragrance of the Nicotiana was attracting lots of moths - sphinx moths. These are they parents of the tomato hornworm! So I'm moving the tomato plants and keeping the Nicotiana near the back door where we can enjoy the fragrance in the evenings. Lesson learned.

Reach Sara Busse at sara.bu...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1249.