
Habitat: sun or partial shade
Flowering: midsummer
Height: 75 cm
Width: 75 cm
Soil: fertile, moist, humus rich
There are tall astilbes for herbaceous borders and small ones of rock garden stature, but all prefer cool and damp conditions. They are clump-forming perennials with branched spikes bearing a multitude of tiny flowers, usually pink or white, sometimes red, closely packed together into a fuzzy mass. The multiply divided leaves are also attractive, opening with bronze colouring, and the dried flowers stems can stand through the winter, adding structure for many extra months.
Astilbe x arendsii 'Brautschleier' is a variety with large upright panicles of pure white flowers, above divided glossy green leaves.
2 litre pot £7.00
| Astilbe x arendsii 'Bressingham Beauty' has feathery plumes of rich pink flowers above bronze tinted and mid green fern-like foliage. Easy to grow, this brings good colour to a shady area. | |
| Astilbe x arendsii 'Fanal' has dense, feathery plumes of deep red flowers, which are long lasting. The dried flowerheads fade but remain, providing winter interest. Attractive toothed leaflets. | |
| Astilbe chinensis var. pumila is a dwarf form of this fine species, with pink flowers, tightly packed along the upright flower stem and its many short side branches, contrasting with the dark foliage. | |
| Astilbe 'Deutschland' is an Astilbe japonica hybrid with fresh, bright green foliage and feathery panicles of white flowers. It is widely regarded as being the best of the white-flowered varieties. | |
| Astilbe 'Rheinland' is a lovely variety, with dense inflorescences of clear pink, widely fluffed out, reminiscent of candy floss, and a similar sugar pink, or perhaps a sahe darker. The deeply incised foliage is rich green or bronze. | |
| Astilbe rivularis CC5201 is a species is usually described as having white flowers, so the description of this collection as yellow-green may just reflect their incomplete openness at the time of the observation. It is a typical Astilbe, with a great spire of tiny flowers, over sharply toothed leaves. | |
| Astilbe 'Willie Buchanan' is one of the smaller varieties, a great plant for a cool place, with dense tufts of finely divided, bronze foliage, and spires of densely packed, very pale pink, tiny flowers. | |
| Filipendula rubra 'Venusta' is grouped with Astilbes, having similar deeply dissected leaves and fluffy plumes made up of masses of tiny flowers, strong pink in this case. It is a robust plant, which never fails to be noticed in our garden. |