My divided clumps look much better this morning. Sometimes it just takes a good nights sleep to feel better. I have always called this plant pale lavender. My tag says Visions in Pink.
Are your astilbes blooming?
It depends, woodspirit - on the cultivar. Evidently some bloom much longer than others and then the flowerheads look wonderful to me a long time past the actual bloom time.
Anyone know the longest blooming ones?
Just thought that I'd mention that bloomingbulbs is having a sale on their fall plants including astilbe.
http://www.bloomingbulb.com/XQ/ASP/Category.32/QX/CartBulbs.htm
Hey, thanks - I'll be looking - and as far as the longest blooming ones, since I don't know, I'm keeping track of the ones I have this year - right now, everything is still in fine shape. The first that bloomed (red) has been going beautifully for two and a half weeks now - Dax
Beautiful photograph Picabo. I'd better get back out there with the camera today!
I got 4 from a mail order last Saturday and got them in the ground. The company info said give your shipment 4-6 weeks to "wake up" but mine already have green leaves and growth!! I know I won;t get blooms this year but I was just thrilled to see them alive and happy. Already planning on getting more...
Here's an unnamed one - due to my planting 60 astilbes of misc. size and color in the same bed.
In thinking about bloom - the foliage is so beautiful I don't mind if they only bloom for a short time. And I don't know of anything else that blooms in the dark in the spring. They bloom after the brunnera and at the same time as the earliest hostas.
I went to look at my teeny tiny babies this morning. I am still amazed that they arrived in a box last Saturday - looking like dead pieces of wood and have come to life already! Of the 4 one of them I couldn't figure out which way was up but even that one has some leaves and growth. Also - it is so cute I think one is an overachiever because I swear I see the beginnings of something that wants to bloom. Could it be?? It is just so little and new I can't imagine but it is definitely growth that looks different from the leaves. I'll have to take a picture do you experts can tell me.
OK here's one of them
and then the other one with something different on top - or is that just how the leaves start out and I haven't noticed it all week as the other leaves grew?
I think that it's a bloom stalk. Aren't they amazing?
Hooray!! I thought so myself but what do I know??? LOL
They are absolutely amazing and I have only just begun. I am loving these like children though and still surprised I am seeing anything from them at all.
I know. They really look like just a hunk of wood when you put them in the ground. LOL
What a great thread!!!
Here's 'peach blossom."
Here's Rhineland:
Here's Deutschland:
Here they all are in context:
Katie they are beautiful!! I love seeing them in context, too. I can;t wait until mine is all filled in with stuff :)
They are really pretty tucked in with your hostas. What a good idea.
Very pretty Katie. I think I have pink/purple envy. But my new Bridal Veil ones are going great now-
This message was edited Jun 22, 2006 1:08 AM
another view
White is so good for a dark area - they are like sparklers, don't you think?
That's exactly what I think, too, Doss - The white is like a beacon, and the reds and pinks, and the new lavender I have just seem luminescent amongst the greens when the light is right. Man, now I'm going to have to go out and take some more pics! Dax
Oh, good - Can't wait to see them! I should take some more too. It's hot as blazes outside here but maybe I can motivate myself. :-)
I have no idea what these are, as I inherited them when we bought this house. I moved them from the front, which was much sunnier, to a much shadier location in the back. They seem much happier there and add some much needed color. The garden in the background seen through the fence is my neighbor's. It's gorgeous! I'm fortunate to have such a lovely view.
Why they are lovely! How nice to have them all the same so that they bloom at the same time like that. There's something to be said for that. And you do have a nice view through that very unobtrusive fence.
Does anyone have that one called Ostrich Plume? It has an arching habit rather than upright..
Can't say I do but it sounds interesting. Pink too! On sale at bloomingbulb.com
http://www.bloomingbulb.com/XQ/ASP/ProductKey.61/bulbs.Astilbe/flower.Ostrich%20Plume/QX/cartProductDetail.htm
They are all so beautiful.
Well, I got some pics taken yesterday, but no time to get them up online. Going to Minneapolis today to pick up my son from camp. So tomorrow, hopefully, - those ostrich feather ones sound lovely, I'll have to check them out - And I know what you mean about blooming all at once. You'll see tomorrow that I've got them in all stages right now, so yours, winging, are striking in that they are all together - NEAT! Dax
Blooming all together, or blooming in stages, it's like growing exotic bird feathers. I put in a lot of short ones this year. I don't know if I'm going to be so happy with that.
I've been lurking here for some time, so enjoying everyone's astilbes, and anxiously awaiting my own to get going. I have had blooms from some earlier varieties I planted last year as small plants, but now my more established ones are blooming. These are some name unknown pinks given to me. They reach nearly 4'
Very pretty. What is growing with them?
I love these little A. chinensis Pumila.
I do like the Pumila. They almost look fuzzy.
Thanks doss! There's Penstemon smallii and 'Johnson's blue'geranium up close, and white rose campion behind. There's tall phlox 'Prime Minister' and gooseneck loosestrife that are just budding too. Some lilies popping through here and there as well for next month's show, hehe.
You have a nice way of combining plants. Thanks for all the details. I do have some gold hakone grass and some ferns and ligularia growing with mine but they are just in absolute shade. There's not too much else to do. It sounds as if you have color there most of the summer.
Sage, your Pumila are adorable. Great photograph. I feel like I could touch them and they would feel like chenille!
Hi, everyone - Stage two of the astilbe blooms here in Iowa - The lavenders are now going wild. Too bad the whites are almost done cause they would have been beautiful together. Ah well, they're still lovely. - Here's some purple/lavender -
And some red and pink together -
