The Perennial Optimist - ONCE UPON A CONEFLOWER

A Woodland Beauty to Enchant the Senses

Actaea racemosa Pink Spike looks and smells divine

If you’re looking for something a little different for a shady border or to keep your azaleas company, have you considered black cohosh, also known as bugbane, baneberry, black snakeroot, or my favorite, fairy candles? For consistency I’ll call it cohosh here.

Perhaps you recognize the name ‘black cohosh’ from traditional folk medicine. One of 18 species worldwide, our native North American cohosh was once used to treat everything from snake bite to lung ailments to chirldbirth and menopause. It is still available today as an herbal supplement.

No matter what you call it, all varieties make good garden plants, especially the darker-leaved cultivars. The variety I grow, Pink Spike, is terrific. There are several others just as nice. If you’ve got a bit of moist loam in dappled or part shade, you might like to try growing this unusual beauty with its fascinating history.

The True Lilies

By “true” lily, I mean the big, showy types that arise from bulbs in the Lilium family, having either trumpet-shaped blooms or recurved petals like the Turks-cap lily. Many are very fragrant as well.

Distinguishing true lilies from masquerading look-alikes can be confusing. Dozens of plants have “lily” in their common name, but aren’t really lilies at all. They’re so-named because their flowers and foliage resemble that of true lilies. Misnomers include daylilies, water lilies, toad lilies, lily of the valley, foxtail lily, calla lily, peace lily, and on and on. None of these are true lilies!

So what exactly are true lilies?

Brighten Shade with Astilbes

Move over, ferns and hostas…there’s nothing quite like astilbes, or false goat’s beard, to bring flair and panache to the shadier nooks in our gardens. Their elegant plumes contribute rich color and height from late spring into early summer, and again in late summer. Even when out of bloom, the attractive foliage stays neat and tidy before gradually going dormant.

Astilbes are a dream to work with. Excellent understory plants, they work under deciduous trees and among a wide range of shade-loving species. This useful perennial is a “must-have” for any location that’s not in strong sun. They do well in heavy clay, too, a bonus here in eastern Pennsylvania.