Cimicifuga simplex 'The Pearl'
Common name: The Pearl Japanese bugbane The most striking is its bloom time. Just as the rest of the perennials in your garden--even the asters--are laying down their heads to rest for the winter, that patch of modest green, compound foliage that you'd ignored all summer under the yonder tree erupts into a froth of glistening white bottlebrushes. These blooms are much bigger and vastly more numerous than those of black bugbane. The more numerous flowers are due partly to the fact that Japanese bugbane (like so many perennials of Japanese origin) is mildly stoloniferous--or creeping--in habit, so it makes a dense patch. At bloom time, the whole patch flowers. None of that dying-out-in-the-center syndrome if you don't divide it every two years. And although it's a spreading plant, it's never invasive. It spreads just enough to make you happy. While black bugbane's blossoms always look as if they're teetering on the brink of toppling over on their immensely tall, fragile stems, those of the Japanese variety remain stalwartly upright on tough, wiry stems, prudently staying under 3 feet in height. Japanese bugbane's flower's are so brightly white that they light up their surroundings like so many sparkling torches. This color quality, combined with the plant's tolerance to very dry shade, makes it a stunning solution to a bare dry zone under a large shade tree. In late fall, your tree will appear to being growing in the midst of a sea of white froth. On the other hand, don't hesitate to bring this bugbane out into the light of day, where it can play a star role in such dazzling combinations as the one pictured. Here, it is backing up switchgrass Panicum virgatum, with a sprinkling of the tender, sky-blue perennial Salvia uliginosa among the grass. The white of the bugbane is echoed here by late-blooming dwarf Shastas, but could just as well be any late white aster. Although bugbane's common name must mean at some time it was thought to repel insects--which is a perfectly respectable occupation--the 'bane' part of the name is probably more repellent to gardeners than to bugs. But don't let that keep you from making this plant in need of a stage name a star in your late autumn garden. Enjoy some other plants in profile: |
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Having a collector's mentality in my plant passion, I've had to learn how to make the best garden choices for myself and others. Here are my very favorite plants--some old, some new--but all plants that earn their place in any garden. Included are the latest and greatest plant introductions from France and the rest of Europe eminently suitable for New World gardens.
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