| These graceful plants of the shady, moist forest enhance a wild woodland setting with pale green, maple-like foliage and tall stems that are topped with clusters of flowers in late spring and summer. Glossy green or red berries appear summer to fall. Try these plants also in mixed borders and waterside plantings, but make sure they receive at least light shade. Give them a humus-rich soil, and keep it damp. Plants are frost-hardy. Divide the rhizomes in spring, or harvest the fully-ripe berries in autumn, strip off the pulp, and sow seeds in a moist shaded bed where they will not be disturbed. If not sown in the fall when they ripen, seeds are not likely to sprout. All species are highly poisonous, though Actaea spicata was once used to treat a range of ailments including a nervous disorder called chorea. |
Small purple flowers tinged with white bloom atop slender stems in spring. From summer into autumn, stems are hung with clusters of small, shiny ¼-inch to ½-inch scarlet berries.
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Attributes - Actaea rubra
Plant Type: Perennial
Bloom Season: Mid Spring through Early Summer
Flower Color: White
Foliage: Deciduous
Height: 2 ft. to 3 ft.
Width: 3 ft.
Sunlight: Partial Sun, Shade
Climate: Zones 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Notes: Thrives in Acid Soil. Poisonous.
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