I like the look of Cotinus 'Golden Sprite', but I've only seen it in pictures. Is it a really bright lime green all summer?

I also have a golden elder which is a bit of a disappointment. It is just looks like a normal wild elder that has a bit of lime chlorosis.

Should I grow these plants on sun or shade, or does it depend on the variety?

Also, Smyrnium perfoliatum, a spring-flowering umbellifer beloved of Christopher Lloyd - creates pools of shiny yellow-green right now. Tuberous, was hard to get going initially but is now well under way in my garden. I think seed needs to be fresh - I can send you some of last year's. It dies away after flowering. I would really, really recommend this one.

There's a Philadelphus coronarius which is a good yellow in spring - rather a weak grower, which might be a good thing!

I have a Cotinus "Golden Spirit" - I personally don't like it nearly as much as the purple type, but it has not really got up to full strength yet. I have cut it right back this year for the first time to get the lovely, large new foliage - it may make more impact now. I would say the foliage is greener rather than yellower, especially as the season wears on. It is in full sun.

Sambucus will take the same treatment - cut hard back in February and you will get fresh, larger than average foliage, but no flowers. Takes a bit of nerve, though, waiting for it to bud out, and the yellow varieties are likely to be weaker growing - I have Black beauty because my thing is purple foliage!. I would only try it with a well-established plant, and do it before the sap rises (bit late now?!)

What about some of the Euphorbias, they gert pretty limey at this time of year?

I like the purple leaved Cotinus as well. I didn't even realise there was a light green one until I saw it in a garden centre last weekend. It was a pretty poor specimen. One long spindly stem and just coming into leaf, so it was difficult to tell what colour it was going to be. I am after a shrub that is the colour of a Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia' and stays that shade all summer. I suppose I could just grow a Robinia and coppice it. Would that work?

I had forgotten about Sambucus. I walked past one today that was a beautiful colour, a really bright lime green.

I agree, euphorbias are great for bright green flowers. My clump of E.robbiae is pretty good at the moment. E wulfenii is striking as well.

I'd love some Smyrnium seed. I was admiring it a couple of Christopher Lloyd's books, but I've never grown it. Would you like me to send you an SAE?

There's a sambucus called Sutherland's Gold. I think there is a good plant of it at my local leisure centre, but when I sneaked a few cuttings off it they wouldn't take. Divine retribution? Are yellow things resistant to rooting?

I have a Robinia in a large pot, although its rootball was puny last time I looked and didn't fill up the pot at all. I'm rather surprised it's still alive. I can't remember it's provenance but as a sapling it must have had its head chopped off because now it's like a 4' stick with a few branches at the top, rather like an umbrella. Still nice, though. If you coppiced a strong -growing one planted in the ground it might well work.

The Cotinus Golden Spirit is not as yellow as the robinia. More of a green-flushed yellow, maybe with a hint of red in it too.

Another option is Gleditsia triacanthos "Sunrise". Quite pretty but it always looks like it's got dead bits on. I like a plant to look lush and enthusiastic.

How about a pollarded / coppiced Catalpa bignonoides "Aurea" for your yellow shrub? Nice big leaves, too.

1) Spirea japonica cultivars, e.g. 'Goldflame'.

2) Leycesteria formosa 'Gold Leaf'/'Golden Lanterns': the first can be grown very easily from seed, available from Plant World Devon. The second is available as a plant.

Both the above have golden foliage with red-tinged new growth and are very attractive.