Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace'.....Elderberry at the Beltsville Library Garden

This is not a native Elderberry, it's a selection of a European species. I know I'm repeating myself by saying I like it against the Library wall, but look at it!

Now I must admit that I've been trying to kill a native elderberry, Sambucus canadensis, in Florida for the past four years....unsuccessfully. We're going back next Wednesday and the elderberry will be there as big as life. It isn't that I don't like it; it's just in the wrong place. I just don't want a huge shrub growing out from under the side of the workshop. I moved a piece during the initial round of rearranging; it died but the parent plant lived....lives. I've dug it, cut it, painted the stumps with concentrated glyphosate, and sprayed resprouts. Nothing seems even to slow it down. I know it'll be seven feet tall again when we get there next week. Maybe it's time to relent and adjust the garden to the elderberry. Possibly we have reached the stalemate of admiring adversaries who must agree to live together despite our differences.