Shade Gardening: Favorite Astilbe?, 1 by

wrote:
Wow - Astilbes with foliage color. I'm thinking I'd be a sucker for the lime foliage. I'm wondering though at what point in the season the foliage color would show up. Where were these developed? They are reasonably priced. I think you should go for it.
I'm in such a quandry here. I've "touched" just about every bed in my yard this summer but still can't quite come up with a plan for my one half-day sun (in the afternoon) bed. It starts out full and lush in the spring and looks pretty decent until late summer/early fall. By now, there are so many bare stalks and empty spaces that I start putting my potted plants in the bare spots. The Campanulas (speciosa and 'Kent Bells') have been dead-headed to death with no basal foliage left, the daylily foliage has been cut back by half to keep it from flopping everywhere, the spring-bloomers (Aquilegia and Polemonium) are gasping, the roses are pretty leafless by now and won't throw any more flowers, the Monarda 'Mahogany' have been deadheaded into pretty bare stalks, the background shrubs (flowering almond, Weigela) are done blooming - you get the picture. I do have a couple of "mums" ('Hillside Sheffield Pink' and a plain ole white one) for fall color. Part of the problem is that the soil doesn't hold enough moisture which I'm working on with spot composting. It gets western sun exposure in the afternoon. Maybe it's just a matter of dry soil and hot sun by late summer doing in everything? Any suggestions? I'm posting a picture from late May.