Thanks, Campanula! I've enjoyed the few photos you have posted of your new property and wouldn't mind seeing more photos of it. (hint, hint.) After gardening haphazardly for 25 or 30 years, this is the first garden I ever really planned, though only in general terms of size, growth style, and color, rather than specific plants. I then went shopping for plants that were available and affordable that fit the design, which allowed for some experiments and serendipity. Previous gardens were all experiments and serendipity with not as good results since by nature I am a plant nerd. I learned a lot from reading the landscape design forum back when it was frequented by a group of talented pros as well as perusing various books. I live in an area that usually is under snow about 4 or even 5 months each year, so having something that is large enough to emerge from the usual 2-3 meters of the white stuff makes the winter less dismal. The times of greatest color and interest in this bed are spring, fall, and early winter before the snow gets deep. I planned for quite a number of evergreens, both coniferous and broadleafed, with the perennials as the icing on the cake. I love our mixed pine and deciduous woods, and the height of this bed was designed to cut down on visibility of the solar panels, sheds, and work area behind it without blocking all sight lines, since this is the first thing one sees as the driveway emerges from the woods. The backdrop of woodlands behind it is what most of our property looks like. The photo below is what this area looked like before we had it cleared and I put in the bed, and is what much of the woods still looks like. The shed in the background is sitting in the middle of what is now the bed, just about where the Amsonia is in photo 1 and the last two photos I posted of it in winter. Here's a more recent photo from near the same spot, with the same cherry tree visible over to the left and the same drives that head off to the left and into the back of the photo into the woods in the photo above. I have another bed that has a backdrop of one type of dark evergreen with all the smaller shrubs and perennials in front of them. In winter, the perennial part is invisible under the snow, but the line of evergreens is still lovely, while in summer, the evergreens take a back seat to the flowers in front. I think all my beds have something for winter interest, either shrubs, small trees or trellises. If it is of any comfort, 150 years ago my state, New Hampshire, was 85% cleared for agriculture. It is now about 85% forested, so change is possible, though I am sure not to that degree in the UK which is more densely populated than my part of the US. One of the interesting aspects of that change is that when one walks in the woods, or flies over most parts of the state in winter, there are still visible stone walls throughout the woods that used to border farm fields. The area in the photos above was pasture because we have found barbed wire fencing in spots. (I live in one of the very few parts of NH without any rocks since we are on glacial lake sediments, so no stone walls.) The old dairy farm where I live stopped being actively farmed in the 40's or 50's, and since then woodland has largely taken over the fields with the exception of a couple of fields that were reclaimed for farming in the 70's and are still used today, though we don't do the actual farming. Probably more response than you wanted, but it's pouring rain here today, so no going outside.

I am in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and while I don't have amsonia, a lot of our fall color trees and shrubs were lackluster this year. Our sugar maples have had hardly any color, the burning bush have been spotty - I've heard it's due to our long streak of warm weather. Some plants have colored great, others not. I'd give it more time.

Growers Outlet in Loganville had it in stock for most of the spring season. They are now closed for the summer and will reopen Aug 27. If you don't find a local source before then, check their availability list when they reopen. Rb Here is a link that might be useful: Growers Outlet

I grew Amsonia hubrichtii in my old garden for years and it never developed a fleshy crown like that!! I'm not sure what to make of that......I'm not at all sure planting above grade would produce that effect. It shouldn't. And it can grow for many years without requiring any division, so that center portion should not be an indication that your plant needs dividing - especially since it is also sprouting from the center - unless you've been growing it for a very long time!! btw, that's the first time I have ever heard of 'fairy ring' used to describe the dormant/dead center portion of a perennial requiring division :-) Usually that phrase is reserved for a circle of lawn mushrooms.