I also wonder about the copper from the pennies.

The pennies should be ok, for the most part. Copper generally stays put, and isn't flushed through the soil... so it should stay relatively at the top and outside... not a lot of roots there.

Copper restricts the ability to uptake iron, from what I have read. And I added steel wool to the soil. Don't know what, if any, affect it may have... but it's in there.

Little update, she's still growing. I keep adjusting the stems and branches/leaves, directing everything to follow +/- the shape I am going for.

I started watering her less. I think I was watering her too much, and I am afraid of rotting the roots. So, she gets watered MWF, and misted every day. This seems to be working, thusfar.

I never thought I would be killing time reading the Oxford Annals of Botany, but I was curious of what effects conatant/continuous vibration may have on a plant. Come to find out, there's a term for a plants reaction to external perturbation, thigmomorphogenesis.

For the time being, my Elderberry is being grown indoors. Yeah, I know, blah blah blah. Anyways, it sits on a dresser in front of the window. Also sitting on this dresser is a box fan that I never shut off. So the Elderberry, for the entire time I have owned it, including all of its recent growth, has been subjected to perpetual vibration. So far, she seems not to mind...

Anyone have any experience with vibrations affecting their plant?