Text and photos ©Nancy J. Ondra
A few days ago, I was beginning to wonder how I was going to fit blogging into my day, with so much to do outdoors. Well, after spending all day cutting down ornamental grasses yesterday, and taking the alpacas for a walk, building a new raised bed out back, and emptying the compost bins today, I am permanently stuck in my desk chair, never to rise again (at least until bedtime). So, I have my answer: I’ll play in the garden until I’m too tired to move, and then I’ll blog.
In my last post, I started discussing some of my favorite golden shrubs. And oh yes, there are many more! The elderberries (Sambucus) could easily have a post all to themselves. I’ve found the purple-leaved ones to be rather finicky, but not so with the yellow-leaved selections.
At the top of this entry is Sambucus nigra ‘Aurea’ serving as the centerpiece of one bed in my front garden. This one is starting its seventh year in that spot. Beginning in its third spring, I cut it back to 6 to 12 inches almost every year, and as you can see, it still forms a sizeable mound – about 8 feet by 8 feet – by the end of each growing season. I skipped cutting it back one year, and by the following spring, I found that the outer branches had layered themselves (taken root where they touched the ground), giving me more than a dozen new plants. I found homes for a few and couldn’t bear to destroy the rest, so they become the backbone of the Arc Borders, as shown below, three years after they were planted. (more…)
