Black Tower Elderberry is an upright shrub grown for its extremely dark leaves and spring flowers. Foliage emerges in the spring a light green and quickly darkens to almost black. This shrub also produces large flat clusters of fragrant pink to white blossoms. The blossoms are followed by blackberries, which are edible and also attractive to birds. This shrub grows 6 to 8 feet tall by 3 to 4 feet wide. It can be pruned in the winter to maintain size.

It prefers full sun to part shade and a wide variety of soils, although it will perform best if soils are evenly moist.

It works well as a background shrub or foundation plant with other plantings around it.