General Culture:

Easily grown in average, medium moisture soils in part shade to full shade. Prefers humusy, organically rich, moisture-retentive soils. Foliage tends to scorch and otherwise depreciate if soils are allowed to dry out. Best sited in locations sheltered from strong winds. This is a slow-to-establish plant.

Noteworthy Characteristics:

‘James Compton’ is a compact, bronze-leaved bugbane cultivar that typically grows to 2.5-3’ tall. Small, numerous, creamy white (sometimes with a pink tinge), fragrant flowers appear in late summer to early fall in long, terminal racemes resembling fluffy spires (typically 9-15” long) rising well above the foliage on upright, branched, wiry stems. Astilbe-like, ternate foliage is an attractive deep bronze. Synonymous with and formerly known as Cimicifuga ramosa ‘James Compton’. All plants in the genus Cimicifuga have recently been transferred to the genus Actaea. The common name of bugbane is in reference to the odoriferous insect repellant properties of this plant. A. simplex plants are also sometimes commonly called cohosh which comes from an Algonquin word meaning rough in reference to the appearance of the plant rhizome. Plants in the Atropurpurea Group typically have purple to bronze tinted foliage.