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experience with black snakeroot???
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Posted by
gailwrite 6KY (
My Page) on
Sat, Jul 31, 10 at 15:57
| Bluestone's Cimicifuga racemosa (black snakeroot) appears to be what I need behind lower flowers and in front of a yew hedge, but I have never seen it growing. If you have had experience with this plant please let me know how it works. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: experience with black snakeroot???
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| Here's a photo of one of mine growing next to a fence. It's probably 6 feet tall. 
It takes a couple of years to settle in, but OMG I love this plant! I grow it in several locations from shade to 1/2 day sun and all do equally well. They do need a good amount of water in their early years, but are really pretty drought tolerant once established. Good moisture is preferred however. Mine flower for a very, very long time. In fact I just cut the spikes off today. I happen to adore the fragrance, but I believe some people think it a bit odd. I vote a MUST for any garden. Kevin |
RE: experience with black snakeroot???
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| I am growing this in a big pot inside. I was told it's too hot here for them. I got it from Bluestone for half price and someone told me it'll die if I plant it outside here. I wish I knew before I ordered it. However it's looking great as a houseplant. LOL! |
RE: experience with black snakeroot???
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| Echinaceamaniac, I've had the 'Hillside Black Beauty' cultivar growing happily in half-day sun (morning sun) here in zone 7 for years. Do what you think best, but I think yours should be fine, especially if you can give it some shade from the hot afternoon sun. Our temperatures here in coastal NJ were up in the mid to high 90's for a spell and the snakeroot took it all in stride with no signs of stress. In addition, our sandy soil drains fairly quickly, despite my amending with organic matter. Mine are growing in a bed with hydrangeas, daylilies, fernleaf bleeding heart and hosta, and, honestly, I see the other plants showing signs of drought stress before the cimicifuga even seems to notice. In the shade, the leaves don't get as dark as they would with more sun, but I'm very happy with this plant - it provides vertical interest, brightening the shade with its creamy-white, late-season flowers. That's a lovely plant, Aachenelf! |
RE: experience with black snakeroot???
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| I have it in several locations and does well in moist soil growing to six feet or more. They receive full sun to about 2:00 PM. In one location it's somewhat invasive via root spread and of course they do stink. |
RE: experience with black snakeroot???
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| "of course they do stink." Those be fightin' words IMO!! I doubt I would want a bouquet of the flowers indoors, but the fragrant - diluted in the outdoor air is very unique and one I've grown to like very much. Kevin |
RE: experience with black snakeroot???
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| I have two of the black foliaged ones, can't remember which exactly. They are in afternoon shade in a bed that gets a lot of watering. I LOVE the fragrance. Smells like grape koolaid to me. |
RE: experience with black snakeroot???
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I just found one (actually on sale)-- the Black Negligee one of the darkest forms. The dark greenish purple leaf turning darker is so stunning. I'll attempt a spot on north -facing side of the fence and companion with Pieris and Monkshood. I'm hearing these beauties take about three years to really reach maturity. Happy if well fed and mulched. Oh yes shaded.
This is honestly one the nicer looking perennial around. |
RE: experience with black snakeroot???
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| I tried this for the first time last year in all day moderate shade and heavy soil. I had read so much about its need for constant moisture that I think I drowned it. The good looking plant from a reputable nursery put out a few new leaves then apparently thought better of it, reversed itself and was gone by mid summer. (with me giving it more and more water as it got punier and punier) Sadly, it's not likely to get a second chance in my garden as there are hundreds of other plants I'd like to try before I die! |
RE: experience with black snakeroot???
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| I now have a couple of cimicifugas, the first one I planted last year, and it disappeared in the August dry spell (I won't call it a drought after what we've been through this year!) and I thought it was gone, but it came up three times its original size this spring. No blooms this year but it's still alive even during THIS drought, so I have hopes for next year. The second one was just planted this spring, and it is still green, but hasn't grown a bit. Hope it will follow the sequence of the first one and be bigger next spring! |
RE: experience with black snakeroot???
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| Up here one week of extreme summer heat, I think, suppressed the plants even in shady spots--so despite all the watering I did faithfully, so may plants here failed to bloom normally. I found this Bugbane on sale a week later probably because the garden center was bailing. Anyway, I'll mulch the base and hope for the best. The Snakeroot wants what it wants! |
RE: experience with black snakeroot???
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| I've grown Cimicifuga racemosa for a long time and love it. It likes a good moist but well drained soil and doesn't care for competition with tree roots, so that could be a problem in front of the yew. There seems to be some confusion between this plant and cultivars of Cimicufuga simplex, which include Hillside Black Beauty, Black Negligee, Brunette, Atropurpurea, Elstead, White Pearl etc. Cimicifuga racemosa is an entirely different native species, earlier blooming, green-leaved and generally more robust. The flowers have a slightly unpleasant smell but nothing to get worked up about. It's a see-thru plant, so will work anywhere in a border, including the front. |
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