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flowersandthings

dissapointed in astilbe

flowersandthings
19 years ago

Anyone else thoroughly unimpressed with astilbe...... ??????? Maybe it needs to be seriously enmassed...... but a flower that doesn't look good in just a few is not worth it too me...... I don't want a whole garden of astilbe....... and how long would it take you to buy them all considering you can't grow them from seed ?????? You'd have to use up your hwole gardening budget in a couple of years...... They don't seem to bloom for that long and just ain't that pretty...... cuse me mom for my english...... the foliage isn't that nice..... most of the time they look weedy..... especially now..... when they're brown..... I suppose I should cut off the flower stalks they loook like a weed...... something that would make you sneeze..... for a flower that's reccomended in every goook and yes I have it in good soil.... shade....... it's not that pretty ....... you'd think it'd be nicer for all the reccomendations and acclaims it gets....... :)

Comments (18)

  • jugglerguy
    19 years ago

    Wow. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Are you keeping it moist enough? When I first tried to grow it, I let it get dry and it didn't do well at all. I assume that you're growing it correctly though.

    I love the red astilbe I have. I don't know the exact name, but the stems are red too. I think the foliage is really nice. I don't usually like the look of dead flowers, but I do like astilbe flowers even after they turn brown (not as much as when it's red though).

    As for getting more, I have some short purple ones that I've divided a lot. There would be no problem having as much of it as I wanted if I just divided it more.

    Here's some of mine:
    {{gwi:1255119}}
    {{gwi:1255121}}
    {{gwi:1255122}}

  • Dee1
    19 years ago

    I have had my astilbe many years...it has never bloomed. It also has not increased. It just sits there and does nothing year after year after year. I guess I'll dig it out one of these years! lol

    Dee 8:)

  • ruddy
    19 years ago

    I have found that astilbe need more moisture than one might think. All of mine are in part shade to heavier shade. The ones that are close to my little pond and two bird baths do better than the others. I refill the bird baths each day, and lots of water gets splashed about. Astbile like moisture and shade. I have about four different varities planted. Right now, my dusky pink one has very tall flower stalks waving above the bird bath.

  • redwoodrose
    19 years ago

    I planted some for the first time this year and was also pretty disappointed...the flowers were not nearly as full and lush as the ones in those pictures, and the flower stalks flopped around. Do you think they want more water, less sun, or what? I was so excited when I got them, wanted to get tons more, but now I don't know.

  • wbona
    19 years ago

    This year has been great for my astilbies. I think it's the rain. They do like a lot of moisture as some years they wilt before they get a chance to flower in my deep, dry shade. This year however, they are beautiful and have been worth the wait. I grow around 5 different varieties and even one I grew from seed is flowering this year. Oh...and I love the look of the dried seed heads!

  • flowersandthings
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    REd: Don't get one they're marvelously unshowy for their prices....... I don't think soil or water is your problem....... mine are in nearly a perfect situation..... where many other plants THRIVE........ I think its a matter of taste...... not to everyone's liking....... I guess nothing is..... but like...... who hates a daylily?????? YOu might just not like them........ :)

  • jugglerguy
    19 years ago

    I paid a dollar apiece for the ones in the pictures. I planted them this spring. I thought they were GREAT for the price. I don't really like daylilies by the way.

  • Yard_Mom
    19 years ago

    Loved your pictures, Jugglerguy! I have astilbes in places where nothing else blooms but they always do.

  • TeriA_NY
    19 years ago

    Jugglerguy your pictures are absolutely beautiful.

    I have been wanting to try astilbe in my shade garden but have been afraid to as it is under a crabapple tree and not very moist.

  • kathicville
    19 years ago

    I have astilbes in two places in my garden---several in dappled shade; several in a.m.sun/p.m.shade. All do well but definitely need steady moisture. I've also noticed that they generally aren't much to look at the first year, but the second year they fill out more and seem to hit their stride. I planted mine less for the flower stalk (although that's one of the perks) than for the fact that once the foliage fills out they make a wonderful, dependable green backdrop all summer long for other things. I have lilies tucked in behind a couple of astilbe, for example, and the astilbe do a nice job of hiding the 'bare legs' of the lilies and providing some fullness after the lily stalks have bloomed and are turning brown.

  • Alphonso de Barbo
    6 years ago

    I agree! Astilbe are like the Emperor in 'The Emperors New Clothes'... everyone is too polite to voice that astilbe are boring and plain... naf!

  • poaky1
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I have planted many Astilbes and most never came back for their second year in my garden, but, I do have 2 that are regrowing (for 4 years now) and they are in a mostly shade but, some sun, but, the reason I suspect that they've done fine in this one spot is because this spot was once inside a horse corral, so for years before it has grown there, we had a horse and a pony crapping in that area. WE cleaned the stalls of course but sometimes the poo stays where it is "deposited" out in the fenced in area, and these Astilbes are right where the outside of the pony's pen was for years, and I have an English oak where the corral was too, and that bad boy (acorn) shot up so darn fast, but, I give these astilbes bunny poo tea and leaf mulch and wood mulch, so I baby them, but, really, they only just stay green, and bloom kinda "okay" so they don't really do that great anyway, and they get lottsa supplemental water in summer. Besides the AStlibes, I also have a plant that has similar foliage, but, it's a native plant here in Pa, and most states near Pa, it's flowers are white and similar to astilbe, but, I had planted a special Astilbe last spring in alarge planter, it was ("chocolate something") and it didn't last more than a week, I watered it, mulched it, and fertilized it, maybe that was the wrong thing, the fertilizer, but, it just desicated away to nothing, and the plant I had bought was large and impressive before transplanting it into the big plastic whiskey barrel pot. The pot was big enough, that's for sure, I am clueless as to why it died. I do know I'll never get another one, I do think that the ones that are doing fine must like the rich soil from natural animal manure which has been in the soil for many years, and the leaf mold and mulch surely doesn't hurt.

  • Carmina Burana
    4 years ago

    I don't particularly like astilbes, but I needed a perennial that would fit in a small space, wouldn't be killed by a nearby black walnut tree and that wouldn't get eaten up by rabbits and deer. I tried three astilbes (mighty chocolate cherry, cappucino, and bridal veil.) I planted the chocolate cherry in full shade and it died. The cappucino was in half shade and bloomed beautifully once, then looked like nothing the rest of the season. The bridal veil, in near-full sun, is enormous but hasn't bloomed once the whole season. It basically looks like a big old weed. My Lil' Cutie Frost heuchera hasn't bloomed either but its foliage is very attractive, the animals haven't touched it and it's doing great right next to the black walnut tree. If you like a leafy plant with a little antenna coming out of it, I'd look into heucheras instead.

  • poaky1
    4 years ago

    Carmina, I have several Heuchera already and the caramel colored ones seem to stay small (full shade) but the burgundy colored ones get nice and big. Maybe the bigger ones are Huecherilla or the plant that is a hybrid between Huechera and Foamflower. My Astilbe is now in an area that I have let weeds get too tall and thick in. I stopped using Roundup, so, it was so hard to keep up with the weeds and I'm not worried about it right now. I'll pay the neighbor guy to weed wack it, then I will use heavy duty weed fabric over it, the SUPER heavy duty stuff. It's like felt fabric. Foamflower itself is nice for more shady areas. We don't have Bl. Walnut trees in my yard, but, the neighbor in front of us has one, but, I just have some oak trees kinda near it's rootzone, and they are fine.

  • poaky1
    4 years ago

    BTW< I am NOT sure which Astilbe I had in the half whiskey barrel, BUT, it was likely one of the "chocolate" named ones you had tried Carmina. It has been so hot here lately, I think that I hadn't realized just HOW hot it would get where I had put it. it was partial sun, BUT, it may have dried out and me watering it every other day may have NOT been enough, something just wasn't good enough. Since I have stopped using "Roundup" it is not so important for me to grow shade plants anymore. Hand weeding is a big pain, and the prices of many plants is just not worth it to me anymore. Especially ones that are finicky about their conditions. Sorry to be a "downer" here, BUT, sometimes it is too hard to lose plants when they are so darn expensive.

  • Carmina Burana
    4 years ago

    Yes, one of the reasons I went to astilbe and heuchera is that I was tired of watching the roses I tried to grow getting chomped or fading away due to black walnut juglone. :<


    I think my chocolate cherry astilbe died because it didn't get enough water. Everything I'd read about astilbes stressed how they needed shade, but what nobody pointed out is that a plant that's in shade isn't going to get as much rainfall as one in full sun because whatever blocks or filters the sun is probably going to block or filter rain too. So I probably should have been watering that chocolate cherry by hand a couple of times a week.

  • poaky1
    4 years ago

    Well, Astilbe's are said to need plenty of moisture and RICH soil. MY Astilbe's in the whiskey half barrel likely hadn't got enough moisture OR rich soil. My family is VERY MUCH against using Roundup" or Glyphosate or Glyphosphate weed killer. I personally WOULD use the kind that lasts for 4 months, and also has a long wand that makes it easy to use without coming too close to the user. BUT, my family said that IF they see me using Roundup THEY will pour salt over the whole area that I want to garden in, SO, I am defeated as far as using weed killer in my yard. Salt will surely kill most anything that I want to grow, possibly even well established trees, so, I have no choice but NOT use Roundup. REALLY, The small bit that I use in MY yard is NOTHING compared to what the farmers spread in the fields about 10 feet from OUR property line. A neighbor close to me has "non- Hodgkins lymphoma" He has a lump under his arm now. He sure did NOT get from my small bit of use, the farmers in the fields near me and possibly HIS occupation in landscaping (likely that is how he was exposed) is how he got affected by it. MY USE was very small scale and NO WAY he could have been affected by MY use. Still, I do feel bad about him being so young and having cancer. Specifically, NON- Hodkins lymphoma. he is in his early to mid 30's at the oldest. I sure do hope that they come up with a safe alternative to the "roundup" type weed killers.

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