Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, home of Mr. Smarty Plants, is dedicated to the growth, propagation and protection of plants native not only to North America, but also to the place in which they are being grown; in your case, Franklin County, Massachusetts. We found no plant, native or non-native, with the name of "Astile," so we figured you meant "Astilbe." The genus Astilbe native to North America is Astilbe biternata (Appalachian false goat's beard). If you follow that plant link to our webpage on that plant you will see that it is native to southeastern states. As you can see from this USDA Plant Profile Map, this plant grows natively as near to Massachusetts as Virginia and West Virginia.

With the Cimicifuga brunette, we had a little more trouble, not finding any genus by that name in our Native Plant Database. However, we went to the Internet and discovered from this article from the Missouri Botanical Garden that all members of the Cimicifuga genus have been transferred to the Acteae genus and that it is now a cultivar correctly termed Actaea simplex 'Brunette.' Being a cultivar would mean it would not be in our Native Plant Database, but neither is Actaea simplex. In that same article we learned that this plant is sometimes referred to as "cohosh," or "bugbane" both of which are common names in our database of Actaea racemosa var. racemosa (Black cohosh) .

Botanists move in mysterious ways, and names get changed on plants without notice sometimes; we believe that your Cimicifuga brunette is actually   Actaea racemosa var. racemosa (Black cohosh). According to this USDA Plant Profile Map, it does grow natively in Franklin Co., Massachusetts.

We go through all this rigamarole to determine if a problem could be due to the plant being raised somewhere that does not have appropriate soils, climate or rainfall for that plant. However, we believe both your plants should be all right where you are growing them, and since they are different plants with the same (and spreading) symptoms, something else, a blight or disease, must be causing the trouble. Since we are gardeners, and not entomologists or plant pathologists, we need to refer you to some experts in your area who may already know what is going on.

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst maintains an Extension Office for Western Massachusetts. On that site, you will find a Plant Problems Diagnostics website. This has contact information and the people there may very well already be familiar with the problem and know what to suggest you do.