How to Use Astilbe in the Garden and Bouquets!

Foamy spires of unique blooms in the shade! Astilbe are a class of 18 species of perennial flowering plants! Unique plants with lacy finely-cut foliage, these plants form clumps and can even spread by rhizomes to colonize small garden locations.

Also known as Meadowsweet, False Goat’s Beard, or False Spirea, the branched spires appear feathery or plume-like and bring in the pollinators and the hummingbirds!

Amazing Astilbe!

Glamorous flowering plants that boost the visual appeal of dappled shade gardens, and you’ll find an elegant selection of Astilbe to brighten your garden beds and borders!

The lacy leaves are gorgeous edging and front-of-the-garden border plants, even when they are not in bloom, Astilbe are the perfect finishing touch to your landscape design! You can even pot them up in planters and mixed container gardens as a triple-duty filler, spiller, and thriller!

With a wide range of height and color, these clumping plants look great when mixed and matched, or even massed together to form showy colonies in the shadier locations around your yard! Astilbe even handles higher moisture locations as long as they are not sitting in water.

Plant these deer-resistant plants throughout your woodland and wildflower gardens with other ferny foliage plants.

Of course, both the scented flowers and finely cut foliage look great in the cutting garden and fill bouquets with long-lasting showy blooms and greenery!

Caring For Astilbe Plants

Easy to grow and resilient, the cold hardy Astilbe family of plants is one of the hardiest perennial plants! Count on reliable Astilbe to come back year after year!

• Astilbe grows best in partial shade and needs afternoon shade to maintain its deep hues. The ideal spot receives between two and four hours of sunlight a day. Too much shade will reduce flowering, so study your site well before planting
• Astilbe plants are widely adaptable across a wide geographical area of USDA planting zones 3 to 9
• Deer and rabbits both tend to leave it alone, although we always recommend repellent spray in those areas
• Needs well-drained soil that is rich in organic matter
• Please don't let your Astilbe plants dry out completely as they perform best with good moisture in well-drained soils
• Reduce surface evaporation with a three-inch layer of mulch over their root systems, providing insulation and enriching the soil. Keeping the soil mulched and even moisture especially during flower development is very important, especially in the warmer zones.
• Fertilize with a slow-release formula for flowering plants in very early spring
• Wait until early spring to cut back the old foliage. Leave the old foliage up to protect your plants from winter damage. You can deadhead after the flowers fade to clean up the mounds.

Herbaceous perennials, Astilbe handle clay and deer while flowering during the midsummer months of the growing season!

Top Astilbe At Nature Hills Nursery

From every pink under the sun, reds, and purples, to icy and creamy whites, there’s a luscious Astilbe available for you to choose from!

Fill your garden and bouquets with some of these favorite Astilbe plants at NatureHills.com!

Delft Lace Astilbe

One of the tallest Astilbe, Delft Lace has gorgeous finely serrated, deep blue-green and burgundy foliage mounds. From the center spouts tall, feathery plumes of soft, pink flowers on red stems in the summer. Growing 24 - 36 inches tall when in bloom, Delft Lace reaches 24 - 36 inches in width at maturity.

Pair this beauty with Berry Smoothie Coral Bells, Pink Chablis Lamium, and Japanese Painted Fern in the garden.

The tall stems become instant bouquet specimens and thrillers either on their own in a tall slender vase with a spiller, or mixed with PowWow® Wild Berry Coneflower, September Charm Anemone, Coral Creme Garden Phlox, Peach Geum, POQUITO™ Lavender Hyssop, and First Kiss Veronica for pretty bouquets!

Fanal Astilbe

The garnet-red Fanal Astilbe is a colorful feathery bloomer, with new foliage appearing as mahogany before aging into a lacy deep green/bronze-green. As autumn approaches, the blooms turn to shades of brown that look wonderful in winter snowscapes. Growing about 2 feet in height and width, Fanal is wonderfully cold-hardy throughout USDA planting zones 4 to 9!

Pair in the garden with Berry Timeless Coral Bells, All Gold Japanese Forest Grass, Raspberry Splash Lungwort, Proven Winners® Black Scallop Ajuga, and Chantilly Lace Goatsbeard.

For outstanding bouquets, pair these mid-sized flowering stems as raspberry-hued fillers with similar Sombrero® Baja Burgundy Coneflower, Soulmate Swamp Milkweed, TEMPO™ Rose Geum, Giles Van Hees Veronica, and Sweet Sunblaze® Roses!

Bridal Veil Astilbe

The romantically soft, fine-textured Bridal Veil Astilbe features green, glossy foliage that looks great all season, and you'll be thrilled when the wide fluffy, lacy tall spires of pure white flowers appear in summer! Heat and cold-hardy, these lasting blooms look great for weeks in your garden beds and borders.

The snow-white blossoms look amazing paired with Variegated Liriope, Twinkle Toes Lungwort, Beautiful Wood Fern, Northern Exposure™ Silver Coral Bells, and Patriot Hosta.

For bouquets, these bridal white flowers look great with other white flowering ornamentals, or as clouds of just Bridal Veil Astilbe in a vase! For some variety, pair with Easy Spirit™ Rose, Karalee Petite Pink Gaura, First Lady Veronica, Magic Fountains Cherry Blossom Delphinium, and Proven Winners® Color Spires® Azure Snow Salvia.

Peach Blossom Astilbe

Soft peachy plumes, the Peach Blossom Astilbe brings pastel finery to your garden with lacy dark green mounds of leaves. These late spring to summer, blooming beauties are ideal for borders, containers, and gardens on the edge of woodlands. Growing in USDA planting zones 4 to 8, these perennials grow up to 2 feet tall when in bloom and spread about 18 inches when mature.

Pair these pretty peachy blossoms in your landscape with Autumn Leaves Coral Bells, EverColor® Everest™ Variegated Sedge Grass, Cutting Edge Foam Flower, Marginal Wood Fern, Misty Lace Dwarf Goatsbeard, and Big Daddy Hosta.

For pretty pastel bouquets mix Peach Blossom with Easy Elegance® Calypso Rose, Amazing Daisies® Daisy May® Shasta Daisy, Summer Mornings Delphinium, Summer Pastel Yarrow, and Phenomenal French Lavender.

Chocolate Shogun Astilbe

Dark chocolatey bronzy-purple leaves, the Chocolate Shogun Astilbe stands out because of its foliage alone, but the lacy white and pink flowers on tall red stems above the near-black foliage. Exceptional cut flowers, the incredible foliage for your vase bouquets! The flowers even look great as dried blooms too! Cold-hardy throughout USDA zones 4 to 8, this dark-leafed Astilbe grows flowers 2-3 feet tall when in bloom and spreads up to 2 feet! Those are sure to stand out in the garden and your floral arrangements!

Mix these dark foliage garden plants with Spellbound Coral Bells, Queen of Sheba Bugbane, Proven Winners® Rock 'N Grow® Back in Black Sedum, Black Beard Mondo Grass, and Burgundy Lace Painted Fern to continue the theme. Or contrast the darkness by mixing with Champagne Coral Bells, Evercolor® Everillo Sedge Grass, Hayscented Fern, and Great Expectations Hosta.

Bouquets with Shoguns white and pink plumes look great combined with Roses of all colors, Proven Winners® Green Jewel Coneflower, Green Beauty Milkweed, Sea Holly, and Kudos™ Silver Blue Hyssop.

Visions series Astilbe Plants

The compact Visions series (chinensis species) has strong, well-branched stems, growing to a compact 18" tall when they display their fluffy spires for the summer months! The bronzy-green or blue-green mounds of foliage look great all on their own throughout the growing season!

• Visions Astilbe - Fragrant raspberry-lavender flowers work great as groundcover
• Vision in Red Astilbe - Bold red fluffy spires with feathery plumes that open red-purple
• Vision in White Astilbe - Snowy white dense blooms
• Little Vision in Purple Astilbe - Dwarf mounds with full-sized raspberry purple flowers
• Little Vision in Pink Astilbe - Dwarf size with pink full-sized blossoms
• Vision in Pink Astilbe - Taller bright pink plumes over blue-green foliage

Mix with similar plants listed above and you’ll love the floral arrangements you will be able to create when you mix these flowers with a wide variety of flower forms, colors, and textures!

Boost Your Floral Bouquets With Astilbe!

Gorgeous fillers and thrillers for your bouquets, the lacy airy plumes boost the color and texture of your bouquets! Both fresh and dried, Astilbe plumes will look divine! Even the Victorian language of flowers knew their worth, stating Astilbe symbolized patience and dedication to a loved one.

Add these easy-to-grow beauties to your shaded gardens and mixed containers to begin enjoying all the perks these carefree fluffy perennials will have in store for your home and garden! The flowers are outstanding for drying and used in dried botanical arrangements! Simply hang bundles upside down to dry them.

Check out all the gorgeous Astilbe varieties available at Nature Hills today!

Happy Planting!