Goat’s Beard

Goat’s Beard (Aruncus sylvester) is a herbaceous perennial plant. Herbaceous perennial plants are plants that do not have woody stems and produce new above ground growth each year before dying back each winter. Perennial plants are plants that live for more than two years. Goat’s Beard belongs to the Rosaceae family, a large family including trees, such as, apple trees, shrubs, such as, roses, herbaceous perennials, such as, Goat’s Beard, and ground cover plants, such as, strawberry plants.

It is a lovely plant to have in a partial shady garden and likes well-drained, rich moist soil but will tolerate damp soil. Its hardiness zone is 3 to 9. It is considered an edge habitat plant and can be found on forest edges, streams, and roadsides. It can grow to 4′ to 6′ tall, and spread about the same in width. They are dioecious plants having male flowers on one plant and female flowers on another plant. The male plants have more attractive creamy white flowers, while the female have a more greenish white flower. The female will produce a more attractive seedpods at the end of season.