leftalerts.blogg.se - Autumn fern height

Grow astilbes in partial shade to shade, tolerating filtered sun. In spring after the threat of severe frost has passed, or in early-to-mid fall.

Star astilbe ( Astilbe simplicifolia): A slow-growing, compact plant with shiny leaves and delicate starlike flowers.

Japanese astilbe ( Astilbe japonica): An early-to-mid summer bloomer with dense, pyramidal flower plumes.

They bloom later than the arendsii hybrids and are more drought and heat tolerant.

Chinese astilbe ( Astilbe chinensis): These fast-spreading, rhizomatous plants are often used as groundcovers.

Most are early-season bloomers, emerging in late spring or early summer. Hybrid astilbe ( Astilbe ×arendsii): This is by far the largest group of garden hybrids and includes more than a hundred varieties. Some have especially eye-catching foliage in shades such as bright chartreuse, chocolate, and russet red.

Astilbe flower clusters range in size from 6 inches to 2 feet in length, depending on the species or cultivar.Įven when not in bloom, their fern-like foliage remains attractive all season and are often enhanced by tones of bronze or burgundy. In between, these showy perennials are some of the best plants for summer color, displaying delicately fragrant bottlebrush-shaped blooms in colors ranging from creamy white and soft pink to deep purple and crimson red. Length of bloom:Īstilbes provide year-round interest, beginning with their foliage in early spring and ending with dried feathery plumes and seedheads in winter.

Because the bloom times vary widely, you can combine plants from each category for an ever-blooming garden from May through September. Early blooming varieties emerge in spring, while late bloomers hold off until July or August. Zones:īest in partial shade to shade Bloom time:Īstilbes are typically classified as early, mid, or late season bloomers, depending on the species and cultivar. On this page: Basics | Planting | Care | Varieties | Companion Plantsįalse goat's beard, false spirea, florist’s spirea Plant type:Īn herbaceous perennial that spreads via underground rhizomes. “There is so much variation among astilbes that I can conceive of a pleasing garden consisting of few perennials other than hostas and astilbes,” Lacy remarks. With hundreds of cultivars available, they also give gardeners a wide range of options in height and bloom time from the early-blooming 'Rheinland', which opens its fluffy cotton-candy pink spires along with bleeding hearts in May, to the dwarf Chinese astilbe, which blooms in late summer with lovely lilac plumes.

“Astilbes are wonderful, virtually indispensable garden perennials,” says garden essayist Allen Lacy, in his book The Gardener's Eye, commenting on how their “steeples and spikes” impart the vertical pizazz needed in every garden. Astilbe is the new must-have plant for shady garden plots, adding color, height and texture that breaks up the boredom of one-dimensional groundcovers and mounded plants.