Tree features: compound leaves with up to 9 leaflets growing in whorls; white flowers in umbel shape; tree was very tall (40 ft?) until it was cut down, after which it sprouted many leafy shoots and flowers. The flowers become red berries once pollinated. I had wondered about whether it was an Aralia cordata Sun King until I heard how tall it had grown. The three photos may help.
Hello - are these recent photos ? The plant is blooming now? (In West End Vanc) Can you see the trunk that was cut? It’ll be interesting to observe the fruit that result from flowers if any Is it some kind of ash, I wonder I bet @wcutler knows what it is.
You can rule out Aralia, which have alternate leaves and a different inflorescence structure. Pl@ntNet identify (plantnet.org) thinks it's a Sambucus. @Nina Shoroplova, I wonder if you did not see the mature berries. According to the page at Sambucus - Species Groups (liquisearch.com), all the ones with with flowers in flat corymbs have berries that are black to glaucous blue; the red-fruited ones have flowers in rounded panicles and are smaller shrubs. Or maybe it's something else entirely. Is it in a private garden or in a park?
Agree with Sambucus, but doesn't look quite right for S. nigra - perhaps more likely S. cerulea? That is native in the Vancouver area. Berries bloomed pale blue (purple-black if the pale blue wax rubs off) when mature, but reddish when unripe.
It's the Sambucus nigra 'Aurea', I've grown it myself and am not aware of a yellow leaved blue elderberry having been circulated. (Or even being in existence). sambucus nigra aurea - Bing images Sambucus nigra - Trees and Shrubs Online
Yellow leaves in elders can indicate poor soil conditions that elders don't greatly like (particularly dry, infertile, well-drained), it doesn't necessarily mean a cultivar. In Britain, a particularly common sight on railway ballast and coal mining spoil heaps.
That is true but the tree @Nina Shoroplova posted looks very healthy. I doubt it would grow as tall as 40 feet if it were in poor soil. On the other hand, you might expect a yellow-leaved cultivar to have more uniformly yellow leaves, not just here and there.
I think it’s the idea that it formerly grew 40 feet tall that’s throwing us off My first reaction (response) is elderberry then the former height cited is a puzzle as others have well noted already And those elderberry are known to grow fast around stumps of other species in one season to look like this one I wonder when the photos were taken And if the OP went back today - any berries and what do they look like
Common Elder only very rarely exceeds 8-10 metres, so 40 feet (about 13 m I think?) would be very unlikely. Blue-berried Elder gets that size much more regularly.
Hello! I’m the original poster on Facebook. And huge thanks to Nina for getting this going! I’ll answer your questions. Yes the photos are recent. Yes it was blooming. Location: My neighbours backyard in New Westminster. She moved into this home in the spring of 2020 and is getting to know the garden. She did not know the name of the tree. It was really tall and causing a lot of shade in her yard so her husband topped it a lot. What you’re seeing are the new shoots growing off the main trunk. There was a main trunk with several smaller trunks Private garden in New Westminster
