I used to have a family next door where the men - I was fairly certain - peed in one spot in the back garden - no idea why! Thank heavens they moved out - but this is definitely tom cat - not tom man!!! But it's still a beautiful plant, so it can stay.
Not all elders are equal - where I walk my dog there are many in flower now - most smell wonderful, but yes, others that look exactly the same smell of wee - not a good combination with gooseberries
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I wouldn't (and don't) personally cut mine back so hard. But then I want mine to be reasonably tall. I cut the flowers back and to tidy it up so it's a shape and size that suits me.
I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to prune my Black Lace this morning, so I thought I would just check on Google and this thread came up! I missed it when it started as we were away.
I pruned it to about a metre last year, this morning it was about 8 feet tall. It's now back to a metre. It usually has a few flowers, but when it was young it was covered in them. It was a Mother's Day present from son in 2007.
Here it is in May 2014.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I have just cut mine back very hard, for the first time I won't cut it back like that every year, as I like it covered in flowers, just will keep it in check in the future.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Posts
I have one of these and I love it but the flowers smell like tom cat pee - is this normal?
I think mine does too - thought it was next door's tom cat though!
I used to have a family next door where the men - I was fairly certain - peed in one spot in the back garden - no idea why! Thank heavens they moved out - but this is definitely tom cat - not tom man!!! But it's still a beautiful plant, so it can stay.
That's how elder smells... strangely enough the flower infusion is good though, with plenty of lemon juice, iced.
Oh I didn't know that - well you learn something every day, don't you?!
Thanks for all the replies.
Not all elders are equal - where I walk my dog there are many in flower now - most smell wonderful, but yes, others that look exactly the same smell of wee - not a good combination with gooseberries
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
If you use the flowers to make elderflower cordial, instead of the ordinary elder flowers, the cordial is a beautiful pale pink colour. Very elegant!
I wouldn't (and don't) personally cut mine back so hard. But then I want mine to be reasonably tall. I cut the flowers back and to tidy it up so it's a shape and size that suits me.
I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to prune my Black Lace this morning, so I thought I would just check on Google and this thread came up! I missed it when it started as we were away.
I pruned it to about a metre last year, this morning it was about 8 feet tall. It's now back to a metre. It usually has a few flowers, but when it was young it was covered in them. It was a Mother's Day present from son in 2007.
Here it is in May 2014.
I have just cut mine back very hard, for the first time
I won't cut it back like that every year, as I like it covered in flowers, just will keep it in check in the future.