Hi GG,kept meaning to update you about this but never got 'round to it sorry. Anyway,have to say this is an amazing plant,no-wonder it was 12 years in the making though I think it could be the victim of it's success. It's just so easy to propagate(though obviously a patented plant)I've tried cuttings..soft wood,hard wood & a bit of both and with great success without any special requirements(moisture/heat etc.) As you rightly said the plant did put out strong shoots from the base.I noticed one of these at the back was perfectly upright and vigorous so kept it and removed the others.About 4months later it was 8ft high! It was amazing to think that all you could see was the results of just a few months growth.In autumn I then dug it up and turned it around to bring the new stem to the front.It sulked for a while but never looked under threat.It's flowering now as you can see and I fully expect it to start pushing growth strongly afterwards(it usually does)then I can start deciding about the branching(it's still a bit narrow and upright presently)However now it's quite big it's already like a big dark shadow in the garden,and I know they can become very big,so I'll see if I wish to keep it large or not. Oh yes,I took two of the other strong shoots(about 2'5ftx3/8") and stuck them in 9cm pots on my windowsill...believe it or not they rooted easily!...the photo shows them shortly after taking next to a few normal sized cuttings.I had to put them immediately into larger pots if only to stop them falling over ha. As always,thanks for your advice GG,I really don't know how you find the time to answer all the queries on the forums ...truly a most unselfish act :)

Thank you Molly & marquest. I may decide to plant them by my hibiscus in the middle of my rose garden. And, if I want some more, it's nice to know they are easy to root (expensive to buy). (Funny about that, marquest, I discovered by accident that hibiscus can be divided like a perennial! I think of them as shrubs and I didn't think shrubs could be divided- I was moving mine and I thought I had killed it for sure when the rooted section broke in two, instead I got 2 plants!) Brandyray

Brandon, thanks for that link. Yes, there is a regional office near me, but I have no idea what they do there. I just followed all the links to submit a sample for identification of disease on a shrub, and the fee is $50. and it requires you to send the sample to UMASS Amherst by Priority Mail for within 48 hours delivery time, which costs another $5-$10. The shrub didn't cost me that much. They offer a few seminars, I notice, but again, they are held on the UMass Amherst campus, not at the local office. And it is $95. for the seminar. You can get your soil tested still, but again, you have to send it to UMass Amherst location. Years ago, you used to be able to drop it off at the local office, but not any more. Plus if you look around the website, you will see that their focus is on serving the Landscape and Agricultural Industry and not really the homeowner. I would be interested to know what their program is known for outside of Massachusetts. I haven't seen what they have available for video programs.

I have a black elderberry , if that`s what ya mean.