Friday Fabulous Flower - white snakeroot - Last of the season, sort of

It's November, and it's been a long season, early spring to late fall.  This is absolutely the last plant to flower in our gardens, white snakeroot, Actea (formerly Cimicifuga) simplex, the first flower opened on October 25th, although it has flowered as early September 21st.  Black snakeroot, A. racemosa, flowered in mid-June. Beware because other plants share this common name, so if buying this, check the name carefully.  The plant grows quite well in shade, as does the almost as late flowering monk's hood.  Actually another plant might flower still, but it's a witchhazel and they almost prefer winter; November flowering is not unusual for witchhazels.  Right now the white snakeroot has a dozen or so bright white inflorescences set off by a bed of sugar maple leaves. This is one of those flowers whose showy parts are largely stamen filaments, not uncommon in the buttercup family.

Friday Fabulous Flower - Black snake root

Black snake root (Actea (formerly Cimicifuga) simplex) is a great shade-loving, fall flowering plant. The bright white bottle brush inflorescences standing up 3-4' tall are quite striking in shady borders that don't have much else going on this time of year.  Another member of the buttercup family, you don't have to worry about them getting nibbled on.  The showiness of the flowers is primarily the function of the stamen filaments with a little bit of help from some petal like bracts. The flowers are very fragrant in a sweetish, musky, pheromone sort of fashion attracting quite an array of insects so no idea which are effective pollinators.  Many new varieties exist with bronze to purple vegetation of much dissected leaves.  These are terrific plants for shady border areas.