Sambucus 'Black Beauty' buds

Hi Beattie,

Do you cut this back every year? It looks as if it's raring to go!

I agree! I only planted it about a year ago, Sheila, so I haven't pruned it at all. Ever. I was looking at it the other day and thought I'd prune it lightly after it flowers. I believe it is very vigorous, so I thought I'd shorten the two longest branches and see what happens.

By the way, I have ONE Dietes bicolor seedling. It popped up a few days ago - now about an inch high. I must take it out of the propagator. :-) Keeping my fingers crossed.
How are yours doing?

Well done you! No sign of mine yet, Beattie. Perhaps they need more warmth? They're in the greenhouse . . . where it goes down to about 8 degrees at night.

The packet said to keep at 15-20C. My propagator is on a windowsill. When we had a warmer spell the temperature in that room got up to around 20 - 22C in daytime and much the same at night as our heating is night storage heaters, so I switched the propagator off. Now the weather's colder but we've turned some of the heaters off so I've switched the propagator on again. The packet did say it could take months to germinate, but I think they want to be a bit warmer than your greenhouse Sheila.

Thank you. I've just sown a second batch, and they're indoors, so maybe will stand a better chance.