I had one a couple of years ago, that did pretty much the same thing as yours. The bigger growth died back, then it seemed to struggle to try to put on new growth, and didn't come back the following spring. 'Brookside' is perfectly happy and growing well in the same conditions that I planted MR in. Maybe not a strong cultivar?

That sounds exactly like what this one is doing.
{{gwi:252144}}
I don't expect it will be around long.

Janet

I ordered mine from Heronswood (the former) and the recommendation that came with it was full sun, well draining soil. Still thriving in my clay-based-but-high-in-organic-content bed - I cut it back hard after the first flush of blooms for a second round of foliage and flowers.

I don't remember without looking exactly how old it is, but I transplanted some of the seedlings next door to fill in some bare spots when a neighbor took several plants with her when she moved....7 years ago. (A small percentage of the seedlings exibit the true purple/black foliage, a larger percentage are dark but fade to green with purple overtones later in summer)

I killed my first one by overwatering - it behaved exactly as you described. My second one is doing much better with less water.

I planted 3 last year, and only 1 survived to this year. It flowered for about 2 weeks & looks like junk again.

No wait ... I just looked at it, and it just apparently put out 1 flower. It's still as small as the day I planted it in May '06.

I grew a load of geraniums from seed last year, including some that were offspring of Midnight Reiter. The dark leaved ones are all still tiny, whereas those with green leaves are sizeable plants.

ornata - I'm not an expert on the topic, but I believe that plants with green leaves grow faster then plants with black leaves since they don't have as much chlorophyll. The more chlorophyll, the more energy the plant can get from the sun, therefore the stronger the plant can grow. People sometimes lose sight of the fact that with all the fancy foliage colors out there now, those leaves are elementally different then normal green leaves, and that affects the plants vigor.

I agree... but plenty of plants with dark foliage grow well, e.g. certain Dahlias, Ligularia 'Britt-Marie Crawford', Sambucus 'Black Lace' and 'Black Beauty'. Granted, they don't grow as fast or large as their green-leaved counterparts, but they still make vigorous, sizeable plants.