Are you a gardening enthusiast and get driven by your green friends? Then aren’t you one of a kind? Gardening is a unique hobby that cultivates art. Especially when the matter comes to flowering plants, your surroundings shall blush with pride and iridescent colors.
When we talk about flowers, we cannot ignore the exquisite beauty of Astilbe flowers. Growing astilbe flowers lies on the bucket list of almost all gardeners who are fans of flowering plants. So if you also love gardening, read it further.
But thinking of growing astilbe flowers and planting, growing, and caring for them are two different things. We have your back if you are new to planting this garden beauty and seeking guidance.
Astilbe flowers have a light to moderate shade requirement. If not followed and kept under deep shade, these flowering plants shall breed few and poor-quality flowers.
Here is all you need to know about planting, growing, and caring for astilbe flowering plants. So get ready for a flowering journey.
About Astilbe Flowers
Astilbe is a flowering plant that belongs to the astilbe species. It bears spikes of exquisite and showy flowers on the top of glossy and zen-like foliage. You will notice this plant can add an eye-catching appearance, color, and texture to a shady place.
Astilbe is a perennial flowering plant and blooms in spring and summer. It produces flowers in three colors: red, pink, and white. The blooming time of astilbe flowers mainly depends on the variety that blooms. Apart from late summer to late spring, some astilbe flowers bloom in fall. The flowers remain attractive and exquisite throughout the blooming period if provided with appropriate moisture.
These flowers’ overwhelming, deceptive, and delicate appearance is dear to all. Coming to the main part, the astilbe plant is a zone 4 flowering plant that loves moisture and semi-shade regions. You will be surprised to know that astilbe is a clump-forming perennial flowering plant ranging from 6 inches to 2 feet and from 6 inches to 5 feet.
The best part about an astilbe flower is that it can add a splash of colors to shady places, groundcovers, containers, woodlands, wet sites, perennial borders, etc. It attracts butterflies and has resistance to deers and rabbits. You can use these versatile flowers in dried arrangements and floral cuttings. Astilbe flowers are also known by a few familiar names, such as false spirea, false goat’s beard, and florist’s spirea.
Planting Astilbe Flowering Plants
Now that you know a lot about astilbe flowers and are taken aback by their beauty, you might wonder how to make them yours. The answer is simple; you can plant astilbe flowers properly and according to their requirements. Follow this guide to plant astilbe flowers in your beautiful garden.
Before jumping on to planting astilbe flowers, you must know the type of soil, shade, temperature, and water requirement for the plants.
To plant astilbe flowers, you must ensure the soil in your garden is well-draining and fertile with appropriate compost, aged and mature. You must provide a constant moisture supply to these flowering plants with little to no puddling. Damp conditions are mostly preferred during summers when dealing with astilbe flowering plants.
The pH requirement for the soil for astilbe flowering plants ranges from slightly acidic to neutral.
If you do not follow the water requirements for this flowering plant, you will get burned summer foliage and lose your precious astilbe flowering plant in a season or two.
First, you must know the right time to plant astilbe flowers. You can come across pots of astilbe flowers in spring and early summer since they grow well in these seasons. If you have an existing garden of astilbe flowers, you will find newly growing plants in these periods. Hence, you must divide them soon.
A few things to keep in mind, you may not receive an excellent yield if you are planting astilbe seeds and get short-lived plants. You must divide the astilbe plants to achieve continuous growth.
Now, coming to answer how to plant astilbe flowering plants. Bare root plants must have twice as wide holes as the plants. It must be at least 4 to 6 inches deep.
When planting the roots, make sure they are fanned slightly and point downwards. Plant the crown 1 to 2 inches under the ground. After planting, you must cover the roots with soil, press, and keep water appropriately.
However, if you plant using nursery pots, loosen the soil about 10 to 12 inches deep and add compost. You must keep the crown just below the soil, backfill after removing the soil from the hole, and water it well.
Growing Astilbe Flowers
Now that you have planted your lovely astilbe flowers, you must know how to grow them to receive the maximum yield and fill your garden with beautiful blossoms. For your plants to grow appropriately, you must ensure a continuous water supply to keep them moist. However, you must not sprinkle frequently.
Here are some steps you must follow to witness the required growth in your astilbe garden.
- The fertilizer requirement for astilbe flowering plants is relatively high. Hence, you should apply fertilizers twice annually. The fertilizer can be a balanced organic compound if you want to apply it in spring. However, it must have a high nitrogen content if you apply it in the fall.
- You may not receive an appropriate growth initially, and it might grow well in the second year. So do not fret if you do not see the growth instantly as these plants are slow to establish.
- It would help if you covered the astilbe crowns above the soil with humus-rich soil. You can also pick them up and plant the clumps again. You will see astilbe flowers forming clumps while growing.
- You must separate the overgrown clumps in 3 to 4 years. It would be best if you did it during the spring season.
- After this, decide if you want to replant them or let them be in pots. The plants in pots can be used to plant astilbe in the early summer after the re-establishment.
- You can also use astilbe to cut flowers. So you can always clip some blooms for growing inside.
- For continuous flowering, you must avoid deaf heading or removing spent flowers. You can see the cliff off the spent flowering stems after the bloom period.
- You can envision visuals appearing in foliage until fall. However, you can prolong the foliage by providing shade from the hot afternoon sun. The shade requirements have been mentioned earlier. Accordingly, the plants might be able to sustain deep shade and grow. However, the flowering will not be inappropriate amounts.
- You may envision yellowness in leaves after the first frost. You can trim them if it is more than enough to sustain. The plants will undergo new growth in spring.
Hence, you can follow these steps to encourage the growth of astilbe flowers in your garden.
Caring for Astilbe Flowers
Astilbe flowering plants might face several issues during their growth and blooming season. Hence, you must take care of your lovely flowers to ensure a long life for the plants and see blossoms for years.
You must protect your astilbe garden from pests and diseases like tarnished plant bugs, powdery mildew, and bacterial leaf spots. However, you need not worry about deers harming your garden, as astilbe flowers are deer resistant.
You can use companion planting techniques to care for and maintain astilbe flowering plants. The companion plants for astilbe flowers must be moisture-loving and shade tolerant. It includes plants, such as small ferns, hostas, lady’s mantle, lungwort Siberian bugloss, Siberian iris, and Solomon’s seal.
Companion planting can deter harmful pests and insects. It also fascinates beneficial insects to enhance pollination. You can also expect companion plants to fix the nutritional deficiencies in the soil. So it is how you can care for your astilbe flowering plants.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to plant, grow, and care for astilbe flower plants, you can get your favorite variety and follow the instructions to see a blooming garden.
Some popular varieties of astilbe flowers include Final, famous for its dark green foliage and dark crimson flowers. Irrlicht is renowned for its dark green foliage and elegant white flowers.
Next comes Venus, known for its bright green foliage and bright pink flowers. Last but not least, you can get Visions that have strong stems, green leaves, and thick raspberry flowers. It is also drought tolerant.
So pick your favorite astilbe flower varieties and get your garden blooming now!