I hold the national collection of the Elderflower Genus and I think they are all useful hardy shrubs that deserve a space in any garden. After all you can use the flowers for fritters, cordial and champagne and the berries for jams, jellies and wine, the stems for Pan Pipes (the world obviously needs more of these!) and the planting of Sambucus apparently keeps away witches (it seems to be working in my garden!).
This variegated form grows to about 1.5metres tall and has more gold in the leaves than green so for those not afraid of variegation, me being one of them, you could do worse. I think that if it is going to be splashy it should go all the way!
I have plants of this one as well as S.n. ‘Marginata’ (paler narrower variegation), S.n.’Castledean’ (green leaves but black petioles and young stems), S.n.’Laciniata'(ferny cut green leaves). S.n.’Pyramidalis’ (upright habit and rich green serrated leaves), S.n.’Linearis’ (foliage so fine it’s almost just veins), S.n.’Guincho Purple’ (chocolate coloured leaves), S.n.’Black Beauty’ (deep purple leaves) and S.n.’Pulverulenta’ (with marbled white leaves), to name a few, all in 6″ pots at $18.50.
