Ageratina, White Snakeroot 'Chocolate'

Nancy Hanks Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's mother, died after drinking milk from a cow that had eaten White Snakeroot. All parts of White Sn...Read Moreakeroot are highly toxic. White Snakeroot should be grown in an area that is inaccessible to pets and children. Wear gloves when handling White Snakeroot.

Mine arrived uninvited and I'm still pulling it.
I have a large yard and I can't pull it as fast as it's spreading. I'll admit it...Read More is refreshing to have a plant flowering in september, especially flowering nicely in the shade. But it chokes out everything else in the woodland.
In my yard, it competes with vinca, euonymus vine and honeysuckle as my worst invasives.

I only have had the plant last year & wasn't sure if you cut it down in the winter which I did, did I read right that it takes awhile for...Read More them to spring up or did I kill it.
I was supprised though that the flowers weren't larger, I planted mine in the shade.

Late to emerge in spring. Blooms September - October in my garden.

Have seen it growing well in any type of soil that doesn't completely dry out. On one property I've got it thriving in rich sandy soil an...Read Mored on my other property it's thriving in a clay loam. They can be readily transplanted from mid-spring through late autumn.

They provide good color contrast for most other plants EXCEPT those that are either very dark green (such as yews and 'Dragon Lady' hollies) or anything else with dark foliage (such as ninebark 'Diablo' and any of the maroon colored Japanese barberries). For the most striking effect, plant them adjacent to anything that has golden or chartreuse foliage.

Rather than discard all of the 'Chocolate' seedlings, I tend to save the most attractive ones for creative new uses in the landscape. Because they grow quickly to significant size, and then can be easily re-transplanted out at some later time, they are very useful for temporarily plugging spaces in the garden that are reserved for the long term growth of larger shrubs. And they can also be used en masse too. A dozen of them can quickly cover a significant area, bursting the center of an otherwise monotonous, oversized, open, sunny lawn. I created a nice quick woodland garden using a 10 sq ft patch of them surrounding a wild locust that volunteered itself near the center of my lawn. The locust seedling originated from my neighbor's ancient 90' tall giant. Locusts grow rapidly, and respond well to coppicing. Thus I maintain it as a lush 12' tall shrub by cutting it back to the ground every year. The contrast in both color and texture between the 'Chocolate' and the wild locust is striking.

In full shade its mature height is only about 60% compared to full sun, but it will still flower there just as profusely. White flowers are perfect for brightening up full shade, especially during the early autumn when few other perennials are still blooming elsewhere. It also self-seeds in far less than optimum conditions, including full shade, although not so nearly agressively as in full sun.

If you have a small garden to maintain and wish to keep just a few 'Chocolates' then it's easy to prevent them from reseeding. However, if you're always busy in a large landscape and have at least a dozen of these growing in good conditions, then it can be quite challenging to prevent an invasive spread.

They are certainly NOT a good neighbor plant in my climate zone. If you plant them anywhere within a ¼ acre parcel in zone-6, they can spread to an adjacent parcel within a year or two. Neighbors who are already negligent about controlling various other tall weeds may have even less success controlling this invader. So invading back from your neighbors' parcels it could possibly become a persistent weed problem for you, years after you changed you mind and "eradicated" it.

Fortunately though it doesn't have a tap root, lending its shallow clumpy root system easy to hand-pull when the soil is moist.

Nine years ago I purchased (3) 'Chocolates' from a garden center in Vermont. I now have approx 100 growing at my two homes and I'd have many, many thousands if I didn't weed out at least a thousand of them over the years.

I've observed that many of its seedlings are a good likeness of its true cultivar, even a few generations later. However, there will always be a large proportion of the seedlings that revert to its boring albeit native general species, which has plain green stems and lighter green leaves. I've seen large patches of that less interesting "ancestor" growing natively along shaded banks of the Delaware R. at Bordentown, NJ.

Love it - chocolate eupatorium has shiny, deep purple stems with chocolate leaves and delicate white fuzzy blooms in late summer/fall. I...Read Moret stands 4’ tall and 3' wide. Bees and butterflies love it too.

I have read sources which suggest it can take full sun, but I wouldn't recommend it!!! It likes moist, well-drained soil. I recommend morning sun. If you're in a cooler climate, it will probably take more sun than it does here in sunny NC.

I collected the seed in MA and grew it here from seed in 2009. I set 5 plants in a perennial bed then, and all 5 survive here in zone 7b. I planted them under a large pecan tree, but the sun doesn't pass over until after high noon. The plants suffer wilt at high noon but recover well in the afternoon shade. I have mulched them heavily which may have kept them from re-seeding. I have never seen a volunteer. I expect to move these plants to a shadier location this season.

I really haven't had any problems with this one. Its a slow perennial to get going. I haven't had any problems with it being invasive. It...Read More does tend to fall over once it's in full bloom. I love it, though. It's a bee magnet. If you're a fan of bees, this is the plant for you.

Gorgeous herb, very nice grouping with tall Joe Pye and mugwort. Blooms July-August. I have not had problems with self-seeding as yet (...Read Moreplanted in spring of 07), and in fact divided it last spring.

I was thrilled this to find this lovely plant blooming in scattered shady locations around our 15 acres of wooded hill and wetland. I was...Read More able to identify it using the CT Botannical Society plant list. It seems to be most robust in the moister areas with good leaf litter, but I have not observed it in the wetland. I'll report back if I do find it there. I have not noticed it on the property in previous years, but I'm just becoming really aware of the wonderful wildflowers in our area. I'd love to have it my shade garden but I'm loathe to disturb any of the native wildflowers; I'll try to collect some seeds. My plant is obviously NOT the cultivar 'Chocolate', but I thought folks would be interested to hear about the wild parent plant.

I planted this plant in a semi-shaded/morning sun bed in the front and it seemed to thrive. I LOVE the dark foliage and the contrasting ...Read Morelate-season white flowers.
However, like another poster, mine didn't survive the winter. Someone else mentioned that it seems to prefer wetter areas, so I might try it in a different spot this year.

****update****

Apparently this is a VERY late one to sprout, as of today I have a little nub coming back. So I would advise anyone thinking this one is a goner to give it some time.

A little known species related to the tall Joe pye weed,native to large areas of eastern north america.This new selection has dark br...Read Moreonzy-brown leaves in the spring turning green when the autumn display of fuzzy white flower clusters appear.Excellent for foliage contasts in the border.Attractive to butterflies.Tolerates shade.

Sorry, no personal experience, but did find it in the equine toxic plant list, might be poisonous to other animals as well. Hope this helps.

I have NO clue what caused me to think this plant likes shade, but it's growing under a peegee hydrangea. I do like its late white flowe...Read Morers against its dark leaves - very pretty with dark-leaved cimicifuga and the green-leaved Joe Pye weed in front of my white wood birdhouse with verdigris copper roof. Terrific late season grouping. Let's see what happens when I move it into more sun.

I've not had the invasive problems with this plant but I also mulch well. I have mine in heavy shade as in the sun it wilted and fell ove...Read Morer. I had to move it twice to get it out of any afternoon sun. Pretty contrast plant.

I have two of these plants; one in moist shade with 2 hrs of filtered sun in the evening and the other in a drier partially-shaded site. ...Read More The one in moist shade is doing better hands down. I haven't experienced the self-seeding issues as yet but I am a mulch-aholic so this could be why I haven't found any seedlings. I find the growth habit of this plant in my garden to be very tidy at this stage (2nd year plant) and the foliage is very attractive, especially when companion-planted with dark heuchera. Personally, I don't grow it for the flowers and may cut them off when they appear.

September 2006.....go figure, I found a seedling afterall. It's about 8 inches tall now and I'm not sure how I managed to miss it being there. I love the foliage on this plant but you can be certain I'll be snippety-snipping off those buds so they don't get to flower! Another thing I've noticed on my Eupatorium rugosum.....leaf miners! I removed the affected leaves and so far they haven't come back (crossing fingers).

Could not agree more strenuously with the other negative. The first four or so seasons were great. Nice foliage and pretty late-season wh...Read Moreite blooms. Then, the horror began and has not stopped. It is one of the WORST re-seeders out there. It will take me years to get rid of it. Don't do it - there are other plants with similar characteristics without the horror.

Victor

I have not got one to make it through the winter yet. Nice for it's flowers and foliage in the shade.

I had no idea that this was the plant I had growing in my butterfly garden but I just IDed.

My plant was growing in the sh...Read Moreade of my common milkweed and butterfly bush and it's COVERED in flowers. I appreciate this plant's ability to produce flowers so late in the season b/c it provides an important nectar source for fall migrating monarchs.

I plan on digging up my sole plant and re-planting where it will get complete sun.

This plant is beautiful, but is growing wild in my area. It appeared in my border this year where I neglected to pull it due to it's pur...Read Moreple leaves. I was astounded at the beautiful tiny white airy flowers. I have another growing in a more negelected part of my property that is in shade and had green leaves.

This plant reseeds so much that you do not want it anywhere near your perennial border. It may be pretty off in a wild area in early fal...Read Morel, but somehow the seeds seem to arrive back in the border. Everytime I see one I pull and throw away.

Lovely foliage and vigorous grower in full sun area. I've found the foliage loses the chocolage color and vigor in part-shade/shade. Lo...Read Moreoks especially pretty when placed near a purple or white buddeleia.

One warning - it self-sows prodigiously! I pull hundreds of seedlings every year.

I purchased this plant in April 2002 while living in Dundalk, Maryland. At that time I had only a cement backyard and gardened only in co...Read Morentainers. Five months later in September we moved to Cecil County, Maryland (USDA Zone 6b/7a.)

All 250 pots of trees, shrubs, perennials, and ground covers were moved to our new - and COLDER - residence.

Today I checked all pots to find that my 'Chocolate' White Snakeroot is doing extremelly well.

Purchased this plant two seasons ago; so far, it has been very well behaved in a semi-shade bed; the foliage has remained dark, which con...Read Moretrasts nicely with the flowers.