Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace'

With its dramatic black foliage and beautiful creamy-pink flowers, Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace' is a real head turner!

An ornamental form of the common elder, it's a real favourite with leading garden designers because of its stunning deeply divided leaves and manageability, plus as a holder of the RHS Award of Garden Merit, it's been judged to be perfect for UK gardens.

Flowering from May to June, Black Lace produces stunning umbels of dainty pink, star-shaped blooms with a subtle, lemon fragrance. These fade from rich pink to pale pink, contrasting wonderfully with its luxurious, purple-black, fern-like foliage.

In autumn, the pollen-rich flowers are followed by purple-black, shiny, round berries that will attract plenty of wildlife into your garden.

Looking like a desirable Acer tree but at the fraction of the cost, it's fully hardy, robust and a breeze to look after - it'll tolerate really harsh pruning too, springing back to life even when cut almost to the ground.

As an added bonus, and perfect if you're into growing your own, the berries will make vitamin-rich, home-made cordials and the flowers can be used to make Elderflower Champagne!

Supplied as an established plant in a 2L pot, ready to plant straight out.

To get a great display of fresh, dark leaves, cut back to ground level each year in early spring and apply a 5-7cm (2-3in) mulch of well-rotted garden compost or manure around the base.

• Max Height:150 cm
• Max Spread:100 cm
• RHS Garden Merit
• Perfect In Pots
• Plant In Sunshine
• Winter Hardy
• Easy To Grow
• Wildlife Friendly

Top Tips

Care Guide

• Pot-grown shrubs can be planted at any time of the year as long as the soil is not waterlogged or frozen. If in doubt, err towards spring but remember to keep pots well-watered so that the soil does not dry out.
• Sambucus will grow in most soils as long as they're not waterlogged.
• Shrub roots generally tend to spread out rather than down, so dig a planting hole 3 x wider than the roots of the shrub you're planting, and mix some well rotted compost or manure with the soil from the hole and use this to re-fill one the shrub is in place.
• We've found that a square hole is better than a round one as the new roots, once they reach the edges tend to grow in a circle round the circumference of the hole whereas when they reach the corners of a square hole, they find it easier to grow through.
• Before planting soak container-grown shrubs thoroughly and allow to drain.
• Remove the plant from its pot and tease out a few of the roots.
• Add Mycorrhizal fungi to the roots when planting to help plants establish quicker.
• Place your shrub in the hole at the same level at the pot.
• Refill the hole with the earth removed (backfilling).
• Firm in the soil with your heel, avoiding the root ball.
• Water well.
• Mulch around the base of the plant with a collar, compost, gravel, bark etc.

Our experienced team at the nursery will always carefully package and send your plants nursery fresh in the perfect condition to thrive once you receive and plant them. Although most plants are extremely tough and will not be affected by all but the most extreme of weather conditions, we always avoid dispatching the most perishable plants if extreme frosts or heat is forecast. We also avoid dispatching orders over Bank Holiday weekends.

Please allow us 5 - 7 working days to dispatch your order. If you have ordered a 'pre-order' item, these will be sent out as soon as possible after the quoted dispatch date and we generally ship your entire order with any pre-ordered items. Once your order has been dispatched, we will send you an email with details on how you can track it.

We send most of our orders via a fully tracked courier service with Yodel. We will send you a tracking link as soon as your order has been dispatched. To avoid perishable items being stuck at depots and deteriorating, we will not require a signature on delivery, and we ask out couriers to leave your item in a safe place ad your delivery address.

*Please note, once your item has been delivered, we cannot be held responsible for loss or theft from your delivery address. If you have delivery instruction and require our courier to leave your item in a specific place, please let us know - there is an option to leave a message for the courier at the checkout.

For smaller and single-item orders, we may send these via the post with Royal Mail - Tracking will not be available for orders sent via this method.

**Please note, we cannot guarantee delivery on a certain day or time. Delivery to outlying postcode areas may take 1-2 days longer, dependent on your location.

For all orders, a small delivery fee of £4.99 will be charged or spend over £60 for FREE Delivery!

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