Lighting the way towards the shorter days of autumn is the late flowering Cimicifuga simplex.

Long, musty scented spikes towering up to 2.5 metres are covered in a mass of white starry flowers. The plant favours a woodland setting and happily flowers in shade.

Herbaceous growth dies down for the winter, where the clump becomes overgrown take the opportunity when dormant to lift, split and divide.

Commonly known as “Bugbane” derived from the generic Latin Cimicifuga, roughly translated as bug and drive away or distasteful to insects i.e. the bane of a bugs life.

Cimicifuga simplex

Cimicifuga simplex