Hi, The established tree picture is not Sumac or ailanthus but most likely a Black Walnut which has similar leave patterns. Sumac can be left alone as they are indigenous to the US and are non-invasive, while Ailanthus are from China, and are Veeeeerrrry invasive!! Be very careful when doing anything to an ailanthus to observe the following, or it will send out a self-preservation signal throughout the root system and hundreds of saplings will appear in a week or less!! If you can't get a hold of Garlon 1A, mix a heavy salt/water solution, and within 15 minutes of cutting down an ailanthus, coat the entire cut stump with this. This will effectively stop any further problem with that particular tree! You can also use a hatchet, cut at a 45 degree angle into the trunk at 2 inch intervals, and pour the solution into each cut. Best done when the trees are sucking the sap back into the root system in the Fall. Be very careful if any trees you DO want to save are within a few yards of the culprit, that treating the TOH may cause it to release a poison to the other good tree, I've had this happen, but only while treating, never after cutting one down. I've had great success with the above on my property and no recurring problems where I used this method. FYI each female will produce 300, 000 seed pods, of which at least 70,000 are guaranteed to produce!! I just hope soon the States will start to actively eliminate this threat, as with the reproductive rate, and typical growth rate of 9 meters a season, it won't take long until they take over!! Best regards, Mike

if you want ID's of particular plant.. you need to provide PHOTOS of said leaves ... and not copy/paste urls.... you come ask a bunch of experts.. they tell you it is not PS.... you take there word.. and then continue to have fear based on unknown sources.. who cant tell a PS from a lilac... hire the job out.. if you are this afraid.... gardening should not be as anxiety ridden as this .... or provide pixs of every single plant there.. so they can be ID'd ... w/o guessing from pix to far to focus on.. i think its a lilac.. but i cant see the leaves close enough ... throw in a ruler for scale .... and call miss dig.. if there is any possibility of utilities around such ... the plants 'look' at this distance.. common enough ... i dont know how we can alleviate your fear .... ken

I love my Elderberries. They are edible and you can make wine, jelly, and pies. They supposedly have medicinal properties as well. Birds love the berries! I used to watch a parade of birds frequent my Elderberries until a Robin claimed the back yard as his territory. He hogs the bird bath and the Elderberries. So then I spread the shrubs farther apart thinking the Robin couldn't monopolize them. We shall see because they are still recovering from transplant. Maybe you can move the shrub in the fall if you don't want it there. They are pretty easy to move. A worthy native shrub. This post was edited by terrene on Sat, Jun 15, 13 at 21:58

I have several of the plants and love them all. From early spring when the fresh leaves come out, they are that lime-green colour. As the season progresses, they change to yellow, orange, red. they last until the hard frost. Yes, there are suckers which are easy to control. You can pull them out or if on the grass, the lawnmower takes care of them. I want to grow more so I learned the hard way, the only time you can dig up the suckers and transplant them is when the plant is dormant. So, when all the leaves are off. If you try to transplant any other time, the sucker dies. And FYI, I live in Ontario, Canada in zone 5. Hope that helped. BTW, I grow them in beds.