I'm in the Raleigh area and grow the color forms of S. nigra - I have two types of purple leaved ones, the golden "toothy" edged one and some variegated ones. NONE of them do well here for me. There is some foliar disease that they all got their first year that never quite kills them but never goes away either. All of the native ones seem immune to it - but they don't come in the fancy colors.

Glad you shared that John. They look so tempting in photos.

Wow, what a shame. I really liked the little white flowers on top of the dark purple foliage. Have you tried anything else John, to replace it? Its so much more humid here than in Raliegh, the fungus would probably be worse. Any other suggestion? Thanks for the heads up! Happy gardening. mudbug

I keep my eyes open for fancy color forms of the native elderberry but so far everything seems to be of the European species (Sambucus nigra is the European Elderberry). Whatever the disease is on mine I also see the same stuff on River Birch.

I will also say that the two types of purple leaf elderberries that I have both get a lot of green in the leaf during the heat of summer - something they swear they won't do. They don't totally revert back to green but they aren't the same intensity of purple that they have in cool weather.

I also am in the Raleigh and have looked for this plant. Just last weekend I stopped at a nursery to see if they will be getting it in. The manager who was very knowledgable said this area is way too hot and the plant tends to "melt" with our summers. Love the look and color of this plant. Recently saw it in a planter and it also was great with the combination they had. Let me know if you find anything similar in looks.