Anyone Like Astilbes?

Debbie - your astilbe gardens are very pretty! I love them myself. I find them very easy to divide, as they are quite hardy. I have some in a sunny location, but all of mine get some shade during the day.

Emily - your gardens are really lovely too. I was so happy to meet you at Kassia's RU!

Thank you, DonnieBrook--it was a treat to meet you at the RU at Kassia's! I loved your ppositive spirit!
We've had sun for three days (!) and some of the lovely frilly astilbes are just beginning to lose their color. . . how many of you leave the flower heads up past their bloom time?

I don't bother cutting back the flower heads after they bloom. I just cut them back the following spring.

Debbie, your astilbe gardens look great. I'm another huge fan. It seems I cannot go to a garden center without picking up another few plants. I like how you planted them in mass. I group mine in three's, five's or seven's. Have some in every bed throughout my yard. Like you, I have plenty of shade and I think astible is one of the nicest shade perennials.

Here are some of mine from today.

Wow, SongsofJoy, that is a stunning scene. Your stream and waterfall are lovely, as are the shade plantings. Thanks for sharing your garden with us.

The purple ones are my favorite. I read in another thread of a DG member who spray paints her faded plumes to extend the "bloom time". The good student part of me balks at the idea - isn't that cheating?? But then I do go into deep mourning when my blooms fade, so I might just have to try that this year...just one little plant. What could it hurt?

This message was edited Jul 8, 2008 8:19 PM

Gorgeous, Christina!! Perfect shot. What's the name of that astilbe? I don't have any purples and would like some. Can you walk over that bridge?

Thank you Cape Cod and Victor.

Victor, I have a few different purple ones and I don't recall which are which. I think the one in the second picture might be 'Amethyst'. This year I got some new purple ones called 'Maggie Daley' that are very similar in color. And yes, the bridge can be walked on. I do get a little nervous when my dad who is 6'4" and not particularly thin walks over it, but so far it seems to hold up! DH did a good job building it!
;'

It's a deal! LOL

Maybe that entire photo is a painting??

Uh-Oh! I've been caught!!!

No, seriously, I haven't tried the paint yet. But I just might... July is definitely the peak in my yard. Not much exciting happens after the astilbe and japanese irises stop blooming. I'm working on changing that, but none of my beds are really large enough to add much more and I don't really want to remove anything to make room.

Victor, I misled you on one of the names. Amethyst is more of a pinkish-lavendar color. I just trecked outside with a flashlight - the one in second photo is called 'Visions'. Now I can sleep better tonight.

Oh - and I just looked at flowerjen's link. That hydrangea and astilbe look awesome together! Now I'm psyched because I just planted a very similar purple lacecap next to my purple 'Maggie Daley's' - hoping for a similar result.

This message was edited Jul 8, 2008 9:34 PM

SongsofJoy, I hope your garden is on a garden tour. It is magnificent! It is so beautiful. When I saw the pictures-I had the same comment as Capecodgardener-WOW! Pirl on another thread mentioned to me an astilbe-Pumila. I manged to find it at a local nursery & of course it came home with me. It is one of the most gorgeous astilbes I've ever scene. It is a light lavender but, in different lighting situations it seems to appear different colors. Do you have one? Let me know if you would like me to send a picture of the plant if you don't. Once again what a garden!
Debbie
PS. I like the Vision astibles too.

Debbie - thank you for the nice comments. Not ready for tours yet though - the great thing about pictures is the ability to crop out the unfinished or less attractive parts ;o). I do have some Pumila. It is a great cultivar - love it for it's later bloom time and it's smaller size. I use it as a ground cover under trees and it spreads slowly but nicely. Mine aren't blooming yet - usually not till August.

Thanks for the ID's, Christina. I have Pumila for years and love it. More sun and heat tolerant. It spreads to make a nice ground cover and the flowers are actually blue and pink flecks when you look closely. I have some photos of it in PF.

The astible info at Longwood is this...From aspenthomas

Thanks Jen!

Songs - your photos of your lovely waterfall and plantings are just exquisite! So inviting and serene! I love your astilbe as well as all of your other plants that go so nicely together with your stream and waterfall and that cool bridge! Thanks for giving us a peak!!

Louise

No problem.

Beautiful. I love the waterfall! I love the way some of them can smell like candy!

How much shade is to much for Astilbe? I love this plant ... I planted about 6 in a wooded area to hide my composter. They don't seem to be doing very well. I'm not sure if it is because I'm not watering enough or if they need more sun. The most sun they get is a few hours of dappled sun in the mid-late afternoon.

MORE WATER

I'll second that. My asitlbes thrive in areas where they get almost no direct sun so a few hours of dappled sun should be perfect, but they definitely resent drying out.

Just found this thread. Beautiful pics everyone!
The hillside is lovely Debbie. Would love that, but no hills where I live.
All the color combinations in all the gardens are divine and the plant combinations just superb.
I actually bought some astilbe at my local grocery store. Never did that before, but they looked healthy and cheap, so they jumped in my cart. I actually went back another day and - guess what- some more jumped in the cart. They were red. NOW I know I need to keep the tags and/or mark them somehow cuz this brain isn't what it used to be.
I also got a red mandevilla at the same store. I love red. It is on the deck so mom can see it and WOW it is doing well. Sorry, no pics, but take my word for it. I'm hoping to overwinter it somehow. It is taller than me and I'm 6'.

Friend of mine recomended Mandevilla, she grows it as an annual, doesn't care about replacing it every year, th flowers are too wonderful.
I doing the same next year.

Gorgeous garden scene Songs. I would like more astilbe, but the summers lately have included a lot of extended dry spells here and keeping them watered enough is difficult.

I have astilbes that are in full sun for a few hours in the AM. As long as they're watered well, they're fine. Consider using polymer crystals with them. Deep shade results in few flowers and more legginess. Also consider Astilbe chinensis - blooms later (mine are still in bloom) and they take more sun and less water.

Yes I find that too. I have some Visions that get some late afternoon sun that do pretty well too. I did find some new white/pale pink that I have on next years list, it is a nice tall one too. http://www.gardencrossings.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.plantDetail/plant_id/547/index.htm What is the best red?

I had a hillside full of weeds when I sawyour lovely collection I did some serious weeding and out to the nursery where I got 6or 7 different varieties,one is a cotton variety with cotton texure bloosom ,I will add more if we survive this Bush economy.
Peter

ngam - don't know the BEST red, the one I have is A. fanal..
I've only had it a short time and pretty much after its peak bloom-time. I like what I saw so far.