"Tara Deen" wrote in message

Fran (and sorry for not replying sooner, it's a mad time) does this mean
that I should be very worried that I've planted it only a few metres
from my house?

If by "it", you mean an Elder then no it won't be a problem so close to the
house. They tend to just put out lots of spindlyish (6 ft high) suckers
that (in my garden, where it lives in an extremely dry spot) dry off at the
end of the season and are good kindling the next spring. The blasted thing
just won't die though.

I'd planned to trim it to a formal shrub to shade some
SW-facing windows that get the sun on summer afternoons. And, of course,
I was dreaming of elderflower champagne and elderberry tarts....

The trouble is to catch it at the right time to do it. I dream of it too
but have never managed yet to get to the flowers when they are just right.
However, if I did get to it at the right time, its suckering habit would be
a bonus because of all the flower heads.