Hello Alaska,
Now I'm going to have to add some Cimifuga to my wish list. They are beautiful. Since your seasons are so short Not sure if you'll get time for seeds. I would try cutting and divide so you want have to wait so long for flowers and if you get seeds trade them. You may try cutting your oldest bloomed stem before a freeze and put it in water to see if it will be close enough to let the seed ripen. Hope you have luck and congrats.
Pattie

Im starting on those this winter also, I noticed them this fall and boy oh boy, do they smell good!

:)
D

I just saw a pic of that for the first time moments ago. Beautiful.
Tammy

What Cimicifuga is that (i.e full name/cultivar)? Did you get it from Bluestone? It is wonderful! Mine is the plain species, it blooms in July and the flower heads are very tall and floppy. I would love a shorter cultivar that bloomed later!

Re: sowing seeds. Your plants are blooming very late so the seeds may not have a chance to mature. According to William Cullina's wildflower book, the seeds are hydrophilic (need to stay moist) and should be sowed right away. Then they require long warm then cold stratification periods to germinate.

I bought a Rozanne from Bluestone this fall too, mine went in the ground even later than yours. No blooms on mine though.

Thanks, all. The seeds aren't that big a deal but it would be nice to have some to share and try myself. Maybe I'll just let nature do her thing, am already pampering my poppy inside. Redbuds set seeds late, can attest that I harvested some pods on a wet early spring day, they were viable so maybe these might work like that, too. Won't hurt to cut off a bloom B4 frost and set it in some water under my lights to see how it does. Cuttings would be a little trickier but may try that next year.

I got mine from my sister who either got it from a nursery in MN or from a friend. It has to be Cimifuga Racemosa, looks just like Bluestone's except their photo shows a bloom starting to set seed top down. I'll watch and see what it does and if the birds have any interest in it.

The foliage is quite pleasant all season, and I did give it a little something this year by way of fertilizer, maybe Scott's bloom booster time release or it grabbed some food from a nearby rose, Mills Magic. I do water it when it gets really dry, maybe that helped it bloom so well finally. It made a feeble attempt to bloom last year, bud shoots on top but never opened, disappointing. Maybe it just took this long to kick in after being divided and xplanted.

Bluestone's looks like mine to me, will provide a link. Mine gets a little morning and late afternoon sun.

Rozanne came with some buds but they shrivelled up and didn't open, should have pinched them off, was just thrilled to get to see anything, silly to take a photo of a partially-opened bloom but I just got so thrilled to see it.

Now this really really makes me want a fall garden, little room for that. The asters folded mostly already, thought the frost got them but now see some smaller stragglers, but wouldn't it be pretty with mums or other very late blooming flowers or grasses?

I think to get a similar effect earlier on, maybe some white liatris would be in order, but they won't be curvy. Oh, mine doesn't have much by way of a pleasant scent so far. I thought some of you would be enchanted by it like I am.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cimifuga Racemosa aka Black Snakeroot aka Bugbane

seeds sound pretty iffy. Division would be better, not half the plant but maybe 1/3 off the side.

If any seeds do form, I'll harvest them if they look ripe, leave half for winter interest, then go from there.

:According to William Cullina's wildflower book"

Thank you for the tip AND the title.

:)
D

No frost forecast, 6-day; 10-day, two sites. Doubt they'll mature that fast tho. Kinda cool how these go fast, guess a couple smaller ones had started to set seed which I didn't notice yesterday. Plus can't neglect one more shot of dear, little Rozanne, enchanted by her, too! Kind of a lazy day, wet and a carpet of leaves everywhere.

I'd seen enough photos of Rozanne but wasn't sure about the color or how I'd work it in, then somebody on the perennials forum posted one with yellow daylilies. I got two bonus ones from Wild's, both nice yellows, so I had to try Rozanne.

D, glad if I could be of any help. Also appreciate the lookup in the nature book.

When my sis brought me those plants, they were supposed to be filipendula, cimifuga and ligularia. Well, I couldn't keep them straight, can now. Instead she brought what turned out to be an enormous bleeding heart. She has to pick z3-z4 hardy plants for shade. The ligularia got too huge, so I gave it away on freecycle and replanted that spot with a Baptisia.

Anyway, if you like the cimifuga, you might also like the filipendula, looks like interesting foliage. BS also has a lilac one. Says the white one blooms late spring or summer. It's aka Meadowsweet, Double Flowering Dropwort or Queen of the Meadow or prairie. Comes in threes, may work in a couple difficult spots for me.

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Here is a link that might be useful: Filipendula hexapetala Flore Plena

Aaaw, aliska12000, don't EVER apologize for posting pictures!

The buds and partially opened bloom is gorgeous on your Rozanne.

The coloration has a hint of violet with the blue in photo.

Sure makes me want one.

Thanks, newbie. I urge you to get a Rozanne even if they are a little pricey. Mine came from Bluestone in mid Sep if you missed that.

I think the photo makes it look a little more blue than it looked in the natural light. It's blue all right, but like you said, there was more than a hint of purple than the photo showed. I think it's because the blue channel if bright like that tends to overexpose with my camera, and I cranked it down just a tad in post processing. I didn't do it on purpose to misrepresent the color but to try to correct the exposure. No matter. I'm in love and will get a couple more if I can find the right spots.

I hadn't been out back since it got so bad out but went out to set out some jugs I WS'ed. Yay, I'm on that early, maybe too early.

It frosted before the seeds matured, I watched them until the weather got so bad, but just picked off a couple heads and think there might be a couple more out there. They are nice, light brown and crispy now, a few seeds fell out before I got them into a baggie.

Since it's the kind of plant that seems to have a mind and biorhythm of its own, it probably never sets seeds until very cold unless it's another zone.

So I don't know why they wouldn't be viable. Think I'll WS a jug of them just to see what happens.