I have a bed 3m by 4m and what to put my two fav plants Annabel hydrangea and black lace in there, but worried the black lace will overcome everything else..anyone think this will work?
I've had one for a long time. I think you can keep it in bounds. You can prune the whole thing right back to the ground each year, but you'd never get any flowers - on the plus side the leaves from new growth are bigger, better and shinier that the leaves that grow on older wood.
Flowers won't appear on NEW growth, so need to bear that in mind.
What I do is to cut out a few of the oldest stems each year right back to the ground then prune back some of the older growth, so I get a mix of flowers and nice leaves. They grow fast too.
Elders regularly produce new stems from the ground once they're settled in, especially after a hard pruning, but it may take a couple of years for you to get multiple stems coming out of the ground from a new plant.
You can hack them about quite freely and they'll re-shoot from all over the place.
The only problem I've ever had with mine was this year when the leaves turned crispy over the course of a few hours during the July heatwave.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
@lilian wlson I prune some of the top growth in Autumn and cut back hard in spring. It shoots all up the stems so plenty of choice for pruning. I have cut it to the ground in early spring. You will loose flowers and therefore berries as a result. If you have good retentive soil another plant that works well is Actaea simplex atropurpurea has a lovely scent.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Yes I also cut back my "Black Lace" as suggested but I actually have more trouble controlling the Hydrangea "Annabelle" which makes vast clumps and spreads widely, although one plant in a much more dry and sunny spot died in the heat this summer.
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I think you can keep it in bounds.
You can prune the whole thing right back to the ground each year, but you'd never get any flowers - on the plus side the leaves from new growth are bigger, better and shinier that the leaves that grow on older wood.
Flowers won't appear on NEW growth, so need to bear that in mind.
What I do is to cut out a few of the oldest stems each year right back to the ground then prune back some of the older growth, so I get a mix of flowers and nice leaves.
They grow fast too.
Elders regularly produce new stems from the ground once they're settled in, especially after a hard pruning, but it may take a couple of years for you to get multiple stems coming out of the ground from a new plant.
You can hack them about quite freely and they'll re-shoot from all over the place.
The only problem I've ever had with mine was this year when the leaves turned crispy over the course of a few hours during the July heatwave.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
If you have good retentive soil another plant that works well is Actaea simplex atropurpurea has a lovely scent.