How to Plant and Grow Astilbe

This pretty perennial livens up shady spots with its fine-textured foliage and colorful summer blooms.

Astilbe is a knockout plant, thanks to its ornamental, fern-like bronze-and-green foliage and its feathery plumed blossoms that look good in season and when dried for winter interest. Even if astilbes never bloomed, the healthy foliage of these plants adds wonderful texture and color to a garden. In spring, new foliage often emerges bright green with blushes of bronze. Some varieties hold that color all year long, and others offer deep chocolate/burgundy foliage. These finely textured mounds of foliage stay compact with no training needed. Come summer, they’re topped with fantastic feathery spikes of tiny flowers in shades of pinks, reds, purples, and whites.

Where to Plant Astilbe

This showy garden perennial produces spikes of beautiful flowers that enliven the garden and add texture to flower arrangements in spring and summer. Hardy in USDA Zones 4-8, it grows best in partial shade, although it tolerates sun as long as it is kept moist.

How and When to Plant Astilbe

Plant astilbe early in the spring in well-drained soil with added compost and a general-purpose granular fertilizer. The cool, moist soil prompts the plant to develop a robust root system.

Astilbe Care Tips

Light

When it comes to light, astilbes are versatile. Depending on the variety, they can take anything from full sun to almost full shade, but partial shade is their preference. In full sun, astilbes must receive adequate water throughout the growing season.

Soil and Water

Astilbes are fairly easy-to-grow plants, with one main stipulation: they need adequate water. They like consistently moist soils, and they’ll suffer without it. So be sure to plant in well-drained soils with lots of organic matter. Amending the soil with additional compost can help retain water and keep these moisture-loving plants happy. If the soil dries out too much, the leaves on your astilbes will begin to brown and curl.

Fertilizer

Before planting, rake a general-purpose granular fertilizer, such as 5-10-5, into the soil. The plant needs phosphorus to bloom. After the plants are established, an annual application of the same fertilizer is all the plants need.

How to Propagate Astilbe

Division is the most efficient way to propagate astilbe. These plants grow from rhizomes. In the late fall, dig around the edge of the plant to reveal the rhizomes. Use your hands to gently pull some of the rhizomes away from the main portion of the root structure, being careful to capture the “eyes” the rhizomes grow from. After preparing a new location with loose, well-draining soil and compost, plant the new astilbe directly in the garden. You’ll see new growth in the spring.

Astilbe can be grown from seed, but the process takes much longer, and you aren’t guaranteed a new plant identical to the parent.

Types of Astilbe

‘Chocolate Shogun’ Astilbe

Astilbe ‘Chocolate Shogun’ is a recent introduction with rich chocolate-purple foliage that is some of the darkest on the market. Loose panicles of light pink blooms show in late summer. Zones 4-8

‘Color Flash’ Astilbe

Astilbe ‘Color Flash’ features beautiful foliage that emerges bright green and ages to bronze, copper, and russet, providing season-long interest. Zones 4-8

Dwarf Chinese Astilbe

Astilbe chinensis ‘Pumila’ is a low-growing groundcover with glossy green foliage and is only 6 inches tall. Grape-scented lavender bloom spires reach only 1 foot tall. Zones 4-8

‘Fanal’ Astilbe

Astilbe ‘Fanal’ is one of the best red-flowering types. It blooms in midsummer with dark red flowers on reddish-bronze leaves. It grows to 2 feet tall. Zones 4-8

‘Federsee’ Astilbe

Astilbe ‘Federsee’ bears dense rose-pink blooms on upright stems to 3 feet tall. It has better drought tolerance than most astilbes. Zones 4-8

‘Superba’ Chinese Astilbe

Astilbe chinensis var. taquetti ‘Superba’ is a large plant growing to 4 feet tall. It bears magenta flowers in mid-to-late summer on shiny, dark green leaves. Zones 4-8

‘Visions’ Chinese Astilbe

Astilbe chinensis ‘Visions’ has fern-like foliage that is bronze-green with fragrant raspberry pink blooms in midsummer. Zones 4-9

Astilbe Companion Plants

Hosta

Hosta is one of the most commonly grown garden plants. Hostas vary from tiny plants suitable for troughs or rock gardens to massive 4-foot clumps. The larger varieties have heart-shaped leaves almost 2 feet long that can be puckered or wavy-edged. They can be white or green variegated, blue-gray, chartreuse, or emerald-edged—the variations are virtually endless.

Hostas in new sizes with new foliage features seem to appear each year. This tough, shade-loving perennial, also known as plantain lily, blooms with white or purplish lavender funnel-shaped or flared flowers in summer. Some are intensely fragrant. Hostas are a favorite of slugs and deer.

Coral Bells

Exciting new selections with incredible foliage patterns have put coral bells on the map. Previously enjoyed mainly for their spires of dainty reddish flowers, coral bells are now grown as much for the unusual mottling and veining of different-color leaves. The low clumps of long-stemmed evergreen or semi-evergreen lobed foliage make coralbells fine groundcover plants. They enjoy humus-rich, moisture-retaining soil. Beware of heaving in areas with frigid winters.

Japanese Painted Fern

One of the most elegant ferns available for your garden, Japanese painted ferns are washed with gorgeous silver and burgundy markings. Lady fern is equally grand, though not quite as showy. Either will add interest and texture to shady spots. Closely related to each other, Japanese painted ferns and lady ferns are sometimes crossed to create attractive hybrids. Unlike most ferns, these toughies can thrive in dry soil. They’ll tolerate some sun if they have ample water.