Sambucas Nigra Aurea

Hi all I have a Sambucus Nigra Aurea which is about 8 years old (and at least 8 feet high!) which has been really leggy the last year or two after being frothy and full for years. I decided to bite the bullet this year and rejuvenate it and I'm asking for anyone's experience, please, of either reducing drastically, or cutting off near the ground? Some stormy weather last year tore about a quarter of the shrub away near the ground so I sawed off the fallen section and now there's lots of healthy regrowth from that site. So, should I be brave and do that to the rest of the plant? Any advice much appreciated!

 

Yes you can cut them hard back. Depending how many main stems you have, do half this year and half next year or bite the bullet and chop it all, then give it a balanced feed.

 

Mine is about 15 yrs old and I follow a similar routine outlined by @noisette47 .
Each year I try and take out a few stems completely to the ground to encourage new shoots.
I leave some branches completely so I get flowers and other branches I chop back to keep it neat so I loose flowers on some of them, but it performs well every year.
And as said above, you can chop it right back and it'll soon shoot up again.

 

Thank you both I think I'll go for a proper chop (except the bit that's already recovering after storm damage), a seaweed feed and a mulch and see what happens...