Aruncus

Hi everybody.  Question about this Aruncus.  Bought it in a small pot Spring 2011 - it produced one flowering stalk in June which died and that was it for the year.  Transplanted it in September 2011, it disappeared underground for the winter and appeared in March 2012 at which time I mulched with leafmould and it has grown at least 4 times bigger that it originally was.  The flower spikes have been showing since April/May and were light green/cream, soft and looked healthy.  Now, many of them on the right side (looking at the pic) have turned brown and are brittle.  Does this mean that the spikes are dying?  They look too brittle to produce the creamy white flowers.  What do you think? 

 A fern has grown up from under it as well.  I didn't want to remove the fern as I'd have to lift the Aruncus (I'm assuming it's Aruncus!). Could the fern be causing it a problem?  The soil is  heavy-ish clay mixed with leafmould and it was mulched with leafmould which I'm told suits Aruncus.   

One of the flower stalks.  Maybe it's meant to be like this?  Some of the others have dried up and are really brittle.

Yes, I think the brown stalks have died back for some reason - I know it's a hardy plant but new growth is always tender and we had some unseasonal cold snaps which probably coincided with the first flower spikes growing. I think I'd cut them back to living wood.  But don't worry about the plant - it looks very healthy to me and the other flower spikes look just as they should.  You may well get some more spikes develop on the other side of the plant to replace the dead ones, and that will prolong the flowering period (a sort of 'Chelsea Chop ).

I wouldn't worry about the fern either - they get into all sorts of nooks and crannies.  When the aruncus grows too big for that spot you can lift and divide it, and then you can move the fern too.

Maybe it is too dry, weird i know with all this rain ! A friend has a massive clump of it growing on the side of  her pond and into the water even, so it definetly likes its feet wet ! You say your soil is a heavy clay and that you mulch so you would expect it to have enough moisture.

Maybe it just needs some time to settle in and will romp away in the near future.

Dovefromabove et al:  Oops!  I'm suspecting there's more than my original Aruncus growing together here.  The original one from last year looked like Aruncus in that it had the tall Astilbe-like cream coloured flower.  But - the stems which I said above seemed to have gone brown and brittle have now flowered - and don't look like my Aruncus.  But the pale green fleshier non-flowered stalks look Aruncus shape.  Do I have two different plants growing together here or has my Aruncus morphed into something else?

 Looks like two different plants to me.  Can anyone identify?  Looks like one is growing through the other.