Lemony Lace Elderberry Purple Spring Buds - March 2024

I planted a lone Lemony Lace Elderberry (from Proven Winners) late in the season of Fall 2022.  It was bought at the end-of-season sale at the Growing Place and came back for the first time last Spring.  Here's a post showing the purple buds on the shrub in April 2023.    Last year, I planted another pair of elderberry shrubs - this time they were dark-foliage Eiffel Tower varieties.  

The Lemony Lace Elderberry has BRIGHT green foliage that resembles a finely dissected Japanese Maple.  It is also supposed to flower.  This one with big, white blooms that arrive before the foliage.  But, I didn't seen any blooms in the first growing season.  Maybe we will this year?   That's what happened with the treeform Doublefile Viburnum shrubs.  Planted in Spring of 222 and didn't flower that first year.  But, when they came back for their second growing season (2023), they put out a lovely set of large, white blooms.  

Here, below, is a look at the purple buds on the Lemony Lace Elderberry.  

I didn't protect this from the rabbits this Winter and they seemed to leave it alone.  I'll keep an eye on it the next few weeks to see if they're interested in the buds, but I suspect there will be plenty of other things for them to gnaw on.