6. Maggie Daley
A. chinensis ‘Maggie Daley’ is best known for its bright purple clusters of flowers that appear atop bright green foliage.
It’s a late-flowering variety, producing flowers toward the middle to end of summer. It grows to about 28 inches tall and 20 inches wide.
It is hardy in Zones 4 to 9 and is best grown in full to partial shade.
Although all types of astilbe varieties are known for their ability to attract butterflies and other pollinators, this variety has one of the best reputations for doing so.
7. Peach Blossom
If you are looking for early season bloomers, Japanese hybrids, A. x japonicashould suit you nicely.
There’s nothing quite as charming as a peach blossom, and this cultivar truly lives up to its name.
A graceful clumping perennial, ‘Peach Blossom’ produces elegant plumes of pale pink flowers in the spring and early summer months.
With glossy green divided foliage, this cultivar can be grown in full sun or partial shade.
Hardy in Zones 3 to 8, this cultivar grows an average of two to three feet tall and wide.
You can find ‘Peach Blossom’ in #1 containers from Nature Hills Nursery.
8. Get in line
A. chinensis our. line up is sure to brighten up your garden in late summer. A dwarf variety, it is aptly named, since line up means “small” in Latin.
This variety produces elegant, slender clusters of pink or purple flowers and fine fern-like foliage.
Only reaching mature heights of about eight to 12 inches tall and 12 to 16 inches wide, this cultivar won an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1993.
It is hardy in Zones 4 to 9 and can be planted in full sun if you live in an area with cool summer temperatures.
9. Red Sentinel
A. x japonica ‘Red Sentinel’ makes a serious impact when grown among other perennial plants.
It offers eye-catching clusters of bright scarlet flowers that appear as early as the beginning of summer in lacy plumes.
It grows in 18-inch-wide clumps that reach mature heights of more than two feet tall.
This cultivar grows best in full shade to partial sun. It is a marvelous flower to choose if you are interested in cut flowers to enjoy in a vase indoors.
‘Red Sentinel’ bare root plants are available for purchase from Burpee.
10. Rhineland
A showy, elegant perennial for shady environments in Zones 4 to 8 or perhaps even Zone 9, A. x arendsii ‘Rheinland’ has feathery pink blossoms and mounds of dark green foliage that give it a light, fairytale-like quality.
It grows best in full or dappled shade.
This variety grows to about 24 inches tall and wide.
You can find plants in #1 containers available from Nature Hills Nursery.
11. Sprite
A. simplicifolia ‘Sprite’ is another cultivar that received an Award of Garden Merit from the RHS in 1993. It produces lovely flowers in coral pink.
This is a dwarf type with tiny, delicate blooms. As you might guess from the plant’s name, this hybrid only reaches about two feet or so in both height and width at maturity.
Perfect for borders and raised beds, this plant can also be grown in a container on the deck.
You can purchase ‘Sprite’ in #1 containers at Nature Hills Nursery.
12. Sister Theresa
A. x arendsii ‘Sister Theresa’ is a fast-growing variety that is suitable for cultivation in Zones 3 to 9.
This cultivar grows from 20 to 24 inches tall and spreads just as wide, blooming early in the summer.
‘Sister Theresa’ is best known for her cotton-candy colored plumes and fine, dark-green foliage.
13. Straussenfeder
Also known as ‘Ostrich Feather,’ this A. thunbergii cultivar has coral plumes of flowers that bloom in June and July.
Most plants grow to about three feet tall and just one or two feet wide at maturity, with lovely dark green, mounded foliage. You may find that new foliage is tinged with bronze.
This cultivar is hardy in Zones 4 to 9.
14. Visions
A. chinensis ‘Visions’ is a feathery variety that produces blooms in shades of raspberry pink.
It has bronze-green glossy foliage that contrasts nicely with its warmer blossoms. It grows to about 10 inches tall and wide.
Like most Chinese astilbes, this variety is more tolerant of dry soil than some, but growers should still avoid allowing it to dry out as a rule.
It also produces fragrant flowers, something that is not found with all varieties of astilbe. The flower spikes usually appear in midsummer when grown in Zones 3 to 8.
You can find plants in #1 containers available at Nature Hills Nursery.
15. Younique
Younique™ is a newer series of astilbe plants that can be found with blossoms in numerous colors, including red, white, and pink, as well as cerise, lilac, salmon, silvery pink, and carmine.
Best grown in clusters with other shade-loving plants like ferns, heucherasand hellebores, Younique™ offers color from the spring to the end of summer.
Hardy in Zones 4 to 9, plants in this series grow to a mature height of around 16 to 20 inches with a spread of about 14 to 18 inches.
The flowers also look wonderful when cut for bouquets or dried arrangements.
There are several cultivars of this series available, each with different bloom colors, and all are disease-resistant.
Younique pink is available from Burpee.
The Star of the Shade Garden
Astilbe is an extraordinary flowering plant, available in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors – and you’re sure to find one that fits your gardening needs.
Are you growing astilbe? What’s your favorite variety? Let us know in the comments section below, and feel free to share a picture!
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