Elderberry Lemony Lace
* Common name: Elderberry Lemony Lace
The golden lacy foliage of elderberry Lemony Lace. (Credit: Proven Winners/ColorChoice)
* Botanical name: Sambucus racemosa ‘SMNSRD4’
* What it is: This variety of a U.S. native elderberry is most striking for its foliage, which is both lacy (“dissected”) and chartreuse in color. The new foliage is tinged in red.
Lemony Lace also flowers white in early spring and gets some red berry-sized fruits in fall, making it colorful in multiple ways all season long.
One other bonus: deer don’t like them.
* Size: Five to six feet tall and wide, but can be kept smaller with pruning.
* Where to use: Center stage! This is a star specimen for a house corner, the center of a front-yard bed, or a similar prominent spot in full sun to part shade.
* Care: Prune to shape or control size in early spring. Any overly long branches also can be snipped back any time during the season.
Fertilize with a balanced, organic fertilizer in spring. Elderberries prefers damp soil, so water in dry spells, at least when the plant is young. Becomes more drought tolerant with age.
* Great partner: Any white-, red-, or burgundy-blooming perennial makes a nice underplanting, such as daylilies, red yarrow, or red mums. Dark-leafed coralbells also contrast nicely. Or use red annuals, such as marigolds, dwarf red zinnias, red begonias, or dark-leafed alternanthera.