7 years is a lot of patience ...

how about a pic.. and remind us where you are.. big city name ...

the first 2 things that pop to mind are lack of enough sun.. or inappropriate fert ... how about some info on those 2 variables ....

ken

Ken -- sorry about lack of location! I'm in Central MA, just southwest of Worcester, supposedly now Zone 6-ish (used to be 5b).

And I failed to mention that, until last year and now this one, the plant has been a prolific bloomer

with fully-opened flowers as they ought to be in their season here (early autumn until frost). It gets half-day full sun from morning to about 2 P.M. and it always has -- no light changes over the years.

With the height of the bloom stalks at roughly 6 feet and a total width of the clump at soil level at 3+ feet, and 11 bloom stalks right now, I have never fertilized it, as it has never seemed to need it. It is in a bed that has daylilies, autumn-flowering anemones, dianthus, thalictrum 'Splendide' and spring bulbs, etc. -- all of which survive very nicely and are bloom machines.

Now, what the h*ll is going on with my cimicifuga, she asks???? I know it is only mid-September, but I am concerned that this year will lack actual open flowers. And my bees will be unfed and sad...

If you are willing to chance it, you could dig it up and look at the roots. Could tree roots be competing? Could it need dividing (not that I know if cimigifuga ever needs dividing. I've seen huge ones that don't seem to be declining) ?

Before replanting it enlarge the planting hole a bit and mix in some good compost/organic matter i. It can't do any harm.

Do you fertilize this plant in spring or during the season?

If you aren't going to divide it, I don't know if it matters whether you do this this fall or early next spring.

I have two in very similar conditions. One is in full bloom and one is in the just scapes stage.

tj

Thanks for the replies. This plant is against the house wall, facing east. Tree roots are not in this garden bed at all, which has many other plants that are doing just fine.

I am the original lackadaisical gardener, no fuss, no fertilizing anywhere, really. Preen now and then, and watering not a problem ( I actually enjoy doing that!). As I mentioned, this cimi has bloomed well for several years, until last & this year, nada. Hmmmm -- maybe the poor thing succumbed to COVID? That's the only difference in my gardening techniques.

Ah, well, 'tis a puzzlement (as the King of Siam said). I shall transplant the five babies it has scattered about and see what transpires in the future.

Each year there is usually a plant that catches my attention ie obsess on ;). After seeing some wonderful specimens at a nearby garden nursery this past July it is this one ie actaea racemosa

But I am confused regarding the bloom time for these plants. The ones shown in the above picture, in gorgeous bloom, and it was in late July but I see mentioned here and in other threads that bugbane/cimicifuga/snakeroot/etc bloom very late in the season? Maybe different varieties bloom at different times? Just curious.

Just a guess, but I think A. racemosa blooms earlier than A. simplex (Atropurpea group). The ones I’ve had were always the latter and bloomed now.

tj

I have my C. r In a large plastic pot and keep forgetting about it from one year to the next. I try to remember to water it, but I don’t think I ever put any fertilizer on it. It is in part sun. It’s been blooming every year in August. I am really mistreating it, poor thing. I am in New England zone 5a.

Mine is probably a bit pot bound because it has been in that pot for at least seven years – – maybe 10.

And @petalique it looks good in its pot when in bloom? How large does it get each season?

(Any chance you have a picture of it?)

Do you leave the pot outside all winter or do you bring it somewhere more sheltered (shed/garage/?)?

I should probably explain :-) my gardens are overrun and very ratty looking because I have to cope with a lot of aches and creaks, pains, low energy and, global warming?, It has been so doggone unforgivingly hot and muggy, it rained For five week, then got 95 degrees and humid. I’m an ocean person stuck in muggy interior New England for a while longer.

My gardens used to look nice but between some injuries and caring for aging parents, a lot of my plants, including a really pretty roses, took a deep dip. I had to move the C. r from an area that was getting very overgrown w. weeds. I put it into a half bushel pot and meant to get back to it. ;-/ I water it when I refill the birdbath and am surprised it’s continued to live. If I have any photo of it, it was probably taken back when it was in the ground.

The pot that it’s in has only about half the soil it wants, but leave the collected over the stems and I guess that shades a bit so that it doesn’t dry out. The soil line is about 8 inches down into the pot :-) and the foliage sticks about 14 to 16 inches up. The tops of the bloom stocks get about 3 feet or so from the soil line. Perhaps more. The plant is living but it doesn’t look luscious. I should probably take better care of that someday when I get extra wind. I think it gets may be scattered sunlight, in total perhaps 5 to 6 hours. I’m in a woody area with a lot of trees and I’m also on a north-facing slope close to wetlands. If I recall correctly this plant culture is for parts sun, part shade and perhaps moist soil but not wet.

I hope you can read my poor typing because I’m using part voice part hand. For some reason I have a really hard time typing into Houzz.

Rouge’s photo is lovely. I’m going to guess the opening is to the south of the C.r

Mine never got that tall where are used to be, and it doesn’t get that tall or lovely in the plastic part of course. Most of my plants struggle for good light. This year between all the rain and then be very hot weather, I didn’t get any tomatoes. A PG delphinium did well

Yes, the pot stays out all year. we are on a wooded north facing slope and the southern exposure has tall maples and oaks that inhibit my sun-loving plants, but for a few openings that let a few hours of sunshine through.

I'm sorry, I have no suggestions for roxanna, but can I say petalique, that your post makes me feel soooo much better. I had/have so many pots just like that. Things that have lived (or, more appropriately, survived) in pots that were supposed to be temporary, perhaps being transplanted, had only a bit of soil in them, were watered when I thought about it, stayed outside over winter, etc. I did make a big push last year and this year to get stuff planted, and planted most of them, but I do still have a good half dozen pots of stuff. Just so glad to see I'm not the only gardener who does this!

:)

Dee

Guilty as well. Managed to get half of my pots planted but still have less than 10. Just don't have a prepared place to put them and I hate to plant them temporarily and have to dig them up again. but, today I'm going to try to finish that someway, somehow. lol