Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Have you grown 'Black Beauty' elderberry (sambucus nigra)?, 1 by rcn48

rcn48 wrote:
Guy, your 'April Wine' is outstanding! Keep us posted, this may be one we would be interested in. Interesting dwarf Koelreuteria - we saw one growing at JC Raulston Arboretum in NC several years ago. This tree performs well for us in this location and would love to add a dwarf form to the gardens.

As for Sambucus 'Black Beauty', it's been a very disappointing plant for us. I love the genus Sambucus, but this one does not like the heat and humidity of Virginia summers. We have basically treated it as a perennial, whacking it back to promote the fresh dark growth in the spring, but what I wouldn't give to have a specimen that does as well as 'Madonna' in our gardens. Our 'Madonna' is the one Sambucus that doesn't mind our climate and in 4 years has had to be regularly pruned to keep it 'tamed' for the spot we selected for it.

'Sutherland Gold' on the other hand is another cultivar that suffers from our temps, absolutely gorgeous in the spring, but then the heat and humidity kicks in and the foliage looks pathetic. I had used it in a container planting I entered in the Fine Gardening contest. It looked superb in June but then when FG contacted me to take more pics for their spring issue, I had to let them know that the 'Sutherland Gold' and the dark foliage of the Cimicifuga ramosa 'Pink Spike' had suffered from the summer humidity and the planting didn't offer much by September :(

Now my quest is to find 'Black Lace' and test it. I first learned of this plant two years ago, originally only available in the UK, but will be available in limited supply in the US this spring.

We're always looking for interesting foliage, particularly the darker and gold foliage plants, but I agree you have to be careful of their placement in the garden. Our only problem has been that we keep adding to our "Wish List" and our the landscape boundaries keep growing, and growing, and growing!!

Here's a picture of our 'Madonna' in the fall of 2000, one gallon pot planted in the spring.