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Getting rid of sambucus

Poly-anthusPoly-anthus Posts: 155
in Problem solving
My fault entirely, but a few years ago I planted a sambucis in the wrong place - in shade, and now it's pretty tall and a mess.  The branches are all curving forwards looking for light and I don't get many flowers.  I'm wondering, if I chop it right down (no chance of digging it out!), will it re- grow, or whether I can plant something else in its place which will be more suitable.  Sorry, I know I was really stupid!!

Posts

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    It will probably regrow - it thrives on hard pruning - but should be bushier and less lanky at least for a while.  No harm in trying anyway.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    edited February 2019
    I pollard my elder (sambucus) back to about a metre high every year in late winter (done earlier this week in fact!). It will still be over 3m high by the end of summer. I still get a few flower heads on it in June and I also trim any wayward over-long branches again throughout the summer.

    To encourage it to produce more stems I have cut it back to about 6" high before now - and it still made it to over 3m tall in a season.

    I have no idea how difficult it would be to dig out - but they are certainly shrubs that will stand being cut back very hard - so you can control their size to a degree.

    I also planted a Group 3 clematis next to it to grow through it and relieve the rather dull foliage in late summer. Only planted last year but I'm hoping it will look good from next year onwards. Being a Group 3 clematis, it can be pruned at the same time I cut back the sambucus.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Cut it back as hard as you like and maybe take a few cuttings so that if one or two take, you can have one in a more suitable place or swap them with friends.

    If you keep cutting it back it will, eventually, give up but that would mean cutting it more than just once in a season to starve it of food from the leaves.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Poly-anthusPoly-anthus Posts: 155
    OK.  Thank you all for your advice.  I think maybe I'll go down the pollarding route and see if I can control it better this year.  Nothing to lose by the sound of it.  Thank you again.
  • Poly-anthusPoly-anthus Posts: 155
    Just thought I'd give an update.  In Autumn last year I decided enough was enough and chopped it down to almost ground level.  I was having some other work done and asked the man to saw it down to a flat stump, which he did and also sawed a ridge across the middle.  Told me to pour bleach into the ridge and this would kill it off.  Come Spring this year, new shoots were coming up all around the stump!  Hard to kill, these things!!
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