Goatsbeard

Aruncus dioicus

Goatsbeard is an architectural native that reads like a shrub but dies back completely to the ground each winter. At full size it creates a mound 4 to 6 feet tall and nearly as wide, with large, compound, fern-like leaves that are deeply textured and dramatic all season. In late spring and early summer the plant produces plumes of creamy white flowers on arching stems, the male plants showing more dramatic, fluffy plumes than the female plants. The compound leaves create a bold, almost tropical texture in the shade garden that fills space effectively and provides a cool, leafy backdrop for smaller shade perennials. This is the shade garden's version of a foundation shrub. structural, permanent, and reliable year after year. It thrives in moist, humus-rich woodland conditions and is particularly effective planted in mass at the edge of a woodland garden or in the corner of a large shaded border.