Astilbe Varieties That Bring Soft, Feathery Color to Summer Gardens

No perennial can ever bring a feathery, lacy and elegant look to your garden as astilbes, or false goat’s beards, do! Their long, feathery blooms like plumes that wave in the wind are as enchanting as clouds over mountain tops; their finely cut, lush leaves are as fresh as ferns in the underbrush… Shade tolerant and cold hardy, in white, pink, purple and red varieties, they will grace your green haven with their unique, fresh forest presence, and with their soft and “fluffy” flowers, or panicles packed with hundreds of tiny blossoms lie snowflakes on a tree…

Easy to grow and low maintenance, adaptable and loved by butterflies, the Astilbe genus, native to woodlands of Asia and North America, has 18 species and many more varieties, which can spread in your garden and even naturalize, even on pond sides and waterlogged soils, thanks to their rhizomes and strength, despite their delicate personality.

And if you are thinking of growing an astilbe variety to freshen up and brighten up your garden, you have landed on the right page, like a butterfly on one of their blooms.

16 Astilbe Varieties for Feathery Flowers in Your Summer Garden

If like a butterfly, you want to flutter over the colorful and elegant plumes of astilbe varieties to choose the best for your garden, here are 12 most decorative of all:

• ‘Bridal Veil’ astilbe
• ‘Black Pearls’ astilbe
• ‘Look at me’ astilbe
• ‘Younique Carmine’ astilbe
• ‘Delft Lace’ astilbe
• Dwarf goat’s beard
• ‘Chocolate Shogun’ astilbe
• ‘Chocolate Cherry’ astilbe
• ‘Cappuccino’ astilbe
• ‘Purple Candles’ astilbe
• ‘Rhythm and Blues’ astilbe
• ‘Milk and Honey’ astilbe
• Dwarf Chinese astilbe
• ‘Hip Hop’ astilbe
• ‘Superba’ astilbe
• ‘Ostrich Plume’ astilbe

And we can start with an astilbe variety that, in many ways, marriesall their most iconic traits…

1: ‘Bridal Veil’ Astilbe (Astilbe x arendsii ‘Bridal Veil’)

For a really classic looking variety, ‘Bridal Veil’ is just perfect! This aptly named astilbe has all the iconic traits of this variety, with branching plumes of pure snow white flowers rising up to meet the sky, like clouds, with an overall pyramidal shape.

These feathers of cotton look even more charming when dancing in the wind, like a ballerina on stage, but they will last longer than the average dancer, from early to mid spring, indeed, and they will attract lots of butterflies to your garden as well!

Densely packed, the many little flowers give you a really amazing lace like effect, and this is in perfect keeping with the foliage of this compact perennial… In fact, its dense and fern like leaves set off the candid blossoms perfectly well, being deeply cut, lush, rich green, and glossy as well. This wedding day effect must have charmed the Royal Horticultural Society, who gave this hybrid cultivar the most coveted prize of all, their Award of Garden Merit.

But despite its light and even frail look, ‘Bridal Veil’ astilbe is quite a tough perennial indeed, it can grow in full shade, cold climates and wet soils, so you can have it un a forest garden, or by a pond or stream, in herbaceous borders, or in containers, as a white accent, or in a Moon garden…

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season: early and mid summer.
• Size: 24 to 28 inches tall (60 to 70 cm) and 18 to 24 inches in spread (45 to 60 cm).
• Soil and water requirements:fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

2: ‘Black Pearls’ Astilbe (Astilbe chinensis ‘Black Pearls’)

From snow white to dark, but still within the theme of embroidered jewels, we now meet ‘Black Pearls’ a really unique variety of astilbe! The most striking trait of this clump forming perennial is its sumptuous floral display…

In fact, come mid summer and into late in this season, you will see massive and plump pyramidal and erect, branched panicles of soft, velvety looking small flowers very densely packed together grow up… They look like the furry robes of kings, and this is especially thanks to their amazing color…

The many tiny blossoms that make up this luxurious spectacle are in fact of the most brilliant and plush royal, or Tyrian purple ever, which is its most sought after tonality, bright, energetic and yet very intense indeed! When the blooms fade, you will still have a very finely textured mound of rich green and finely cut leaves to decorate your garden, as you will in spring, only in a lighter shade.

While royalty are usually picky and pernicious, ‘Black Pearls’ is not though! It will tolerate many harsh conditions and even naturalize, and you can have it in beds or especially borders in full Sun, as well as un a densely forested area, and, of course, in rain gardens or by ponds and streams as well!

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season:mid and late summer.
• Size:20 to 28 inches tall (50 to 70 cm) and 12 to 24 inches in spread (30 to 60 cm)
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant, and moderately drought tolerant once established.

3: ‘Look at Me’ Astilbe (Astilbe x arendsii ‘Look at Me’)

Of course, ‘Look at Me’ is a real beauty to behold! Blooming in early and mid spring, this astilbe variety has really impressive panicles covered in small flowers, bit bigger than in many of her sisters, so you can actually enjoy the elegant charm of each blossom, and they are soft pink, with shell overtones and if you look closely, they almost look like they have a light of their own… And they are fragrant as well!

But all this is definitely heightened by the rachises (stems) of the upright and conical panicles, because they are bright red, on scarlet side! This adds structure and a fiery touch to the romantic floral display, like veins pumping blood into it. When butterflies come to visit it and your garden, the spectacle is just breathtaking. Finally, the dark green coloring of the finely cut and dense, frond like foliage sets this luminous floral show off perfectly well, with shade contrast, but continuity in texture!

If your garden has an oriental, or Japanese inspiration, and you want an astilbe variety, I would think ‘Look at Me’ could be your best choice because, when in bloom, it will remind you of the famous cherry blossoms of the Land of the Setting Sun. Then again, it grows well next to water, and it has that elegant but informal personality that would suit flower beds andborder fronts, natural looking landscapes, and even woodland areas…

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 8.
• Light exposure:full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season:early and mid summer.
• Size:12 to 16 inches tall (30 to 40 cm) and 18 to 20 inches in spread (45 to 50 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

4: ‘Younique Carmine’ Astilbe (Astilbe x hybrida ‘Younique Carmine’)

And now, the red astilbe, a really unique hybrid cultivar, as its name suggests, ‘Younique Carmine’. And it also suggests the color of its blossoms, which come un early and mid summer… Of course, you will see carmine on the pyramidal panicles that grow up from this perennial, but this is especially true when the tiny little flowers are still in bud.

However, as they open, they will lighten up to a cerise shade, but these inflorescences will also gain thickness, as the blooms start filling them, like large flames, but fluffy and not menacing at all. The stems and are reddish as well, and this contrasts beautifully with the rich and semi glossy green of the elegantly cut and finely textured foliage forming a dense and refreshing mound at the base.

Your best choice if you love both red and astilbes, it will take its warm colored blossoms and fresh looking foliage to your flower beds, border fronts, pond sides or containers in full sunlight or deep shade, and a bit earlier than other varieties as well.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season: early and mid summer.
• Size:12 to 16 inches tall (30 to 40 cm) and 14 to 18 inches in spread (35 to 45 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

5: ‘Delft Lace’ Astilbe (Astilbe x hybrida ‘Delft Lace’)

Add a vibrant and cheerful perennial to your garden, with clump forming and exuberant ‘Delft Lace’! This astilbe variety will blossom in early and mid summer, with really long upright and broad, pyramidal panicles packed with loads of flowers, but with layered branches, like a Christmas tree. But this is not a plant for a religious festivity, rather for a bubblegum party instead!

Yes, because the many blossoms are of a very bright and vibrant strong pink shade, touching on the rose range, and the stems are purplish red, around the cherry to even ruby range! Imagine all the butterflies dancing to a disco tune around them! The foliage too is quite particular as well… It has the typical finely cut and fern like leaves of this genus, but they mix a bright and rich emerald green color with wine purple on the under pages and around the margins, and they are glossy as well!

Throw a summer party in your garden with ‘Delft Lace’ astilbe, even in deep shade, under trees, or shrubs, in beds or borders, or even on the sides of your pond. Or grow it for colorful ground cover, or take it indoors as cut fresh or dry flowers to cheer you up on a rainy day!

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Light exposure:full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season:early and mid summer.
• Size:2 to 3 feet tall (60 to 90 cm) and 18 to 24 inches in spread (45 to 60 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

6: Dwarf Goat’s Beard (Astilbe aethusifolius)

As its name suggests, we are now going to meet a very tiny variety of astilbe… A natural species from Korea, dwarf goat’s beard is in fact a small but charming perennial, growing only to 12 inches tall maximum (30 cm)… And its upright panicles follow this theme, being small, with clearly distanced and layered branchlets (technically rachises)…

They look like an elegant set of feathers exquisitely arranged, rather than a large plume of cloud like blooms… Yes, because the tiny blossoms are cream white, and delicate looking as well, and they will open from early to mid summer. But the foliage will keep you dreaming till much late in the season… Finely textured and fern like, as with all her sisters, it emerges bright green and then it deepens in color.

However, just as the floral display comes to an end, it starts blushing to lovely shades of red, orange and yellow! Petite and discreet though it is, this perennial has won a very big prize – the biggest of them all, in fact, the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society!

Ideal for all types of informal green spaces, including oriental in style, dwarf goat’s beard can add its elegant texture and blooms to your flower beds but it could also be an elegant member of your rock garden, or you could use it to edge your paths and borders, softening them or freshen up the sides of a pond or stream… And it is excellent ground cover as well, also under shrubs!

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 7.
• Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
• Flowering season:early and mid summer.
• Size:10 to 12 inches tall (25 to 30 cm) and 12 to 16 inches in spread (30 to 40 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

7: ‘Chocolate Shogun’ Astilbe (Astilbe thunbergii ‘Chocolate Shogun’)

If you want a really dramatic perennial in your garden, then there is a really impressive variety of astilbe for you: ‘Chocolate Shogun’. If the name is really evocative, wait till you see the actual plant! Its name comes from the foliage, which are really dark purple, almost black, and indeed chocolate bronze in tonality. They are also quite broad and deeply veined, with a warty texture, and very glossy indeed!

Come mid spring, the first buds, which are rosy, will start to open on the arching, almost weeping panicles, which have purplish red stems, and they will form conical arms that pale to off white, with some pink overtones… This spectacular blossom will last till the end of summer, and bees, butterflies and other pollinators will stop fluttering above the flowers, but you will be left with the eye catching exotic leafy mound till the end of the season.

A spectacular variety of astilbe, ‘Chocolate Shogun’ will bring its dramatic contrast and elegant blossoms to most informal garden styles, from oriental to traditional, in borders, under trees and shrubs, or by ponds and streams. But it will also give you excellent cut flowers, both fresh and dry.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 8.
• Light exposure:full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season:mid and late summer.
• Size:20 to 30 inches tall (50 to 75 cm) and 18 to 24 inches in spread (45 to 60 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

8: ‘Chocolate Cherry’ Astilbe (Astilbe chinensis ‘Chocolate Cherry’)

And here’s another variety with a sweet tooth: ‘Chocolate Cherry’. If this mix is mouthwatering, the visual effect of this astilbe is really energetic and superb. A particularly tall cultivar, its panicles will reach 4 feet tall (120 cm) from mid to late summer, bringing fiery plumes into your garden.

And this is because their upright and conical panicles bear an infinity of deep magenta to cerise (here’s the cherry ingredient) little flowers, and the stems themselves are red, with purplish notes (and here is the chocolate taste). Loved by butterflies and other pollinators, these blossoms will rise quite far above the leafy clump at the base, adding a vertical element to the foliage. And the leaves, finely cut and lush, take up the blooms’ color theme by adding reddish blushes to their bright green shade, as if soaked in wine…

Very eye catching and energetic, ‘Chocolate Cherry’ astilbe is the perfect variety if you want a big effect and a splash of fiery colors in your wet garden, or by a pond, or in any informal border, but also in containers and for ground cover, even in woodland areas.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season:mid and late summer.
• Size:3 to 4 feet tall (90 to 120 cm) and 2 to 3 feet in spread (60 to 90 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant but also moderately drought tolerant once established.

9:‘Cappuccino’ Astilbe (Astilbe x arendsii ‘Cappuccino’)

Completing our café inspired mini series is ‘Cappuccino’, yet another sweet looking variety of astilbe… Look at the rising conical plumes, with layered branches packed with hundreds of little fluffy looking flowers that open in early and mid summer and you will understand why… They are cream white in color, and they look very frothy, like the famous Italian hot drink, offering a perfect backdrop for visiting butterflies and other pollinators.

But this breakfast theme is also taken up by the color of the stems and rachises, because they have a soft, pale purplish reddish color, which looks a bit like peanut brown from a distance, like when you mix coffee and milk! But then if you look at the leaves in spring, you get more of an expresso effect, because they emerge as dark bronze, and then they become greener and greener as the season progresses, and of course, the foliage is fern like, finely textured and lush!

Excellent as a backdrop for an open air morning breakfast or afternoon tea, ‘Cappuccino’ astilbe has all the softness and sweetness, and warmth of the drink it is named after, an it can bring it to gardens in beds, herbaceous borders, under trees or on wetland, but also indoors, as it provides excellent fresh and dry cut flowers as well.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season:early and mid summer.
• Size:16 to 18 inches tall (40 to 45 cm) and 18 to 24 inches in spread (45 to 60 cm)
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

10: ‘Purple Candles’ Astilbe (Astilbe chinensis ‘Purple Candles’)

If you want a dreamworld variety or astilbe, elegant, soft and literally suave to grow in your garden, I suggest you take a close look at ‘Purple Candles’… Growing quite tall, to 4 feet, in fact, or 120 cm, this cultivar of Astilbe chinensis will grace your summer days with fluffy and cloud like plumes of pure gentle mauve to lavender, on a delicate pastel shade, but bright and vibrant at the same time.

The inflorescences will last from July to August, and they are fairly loose, but still full, and conical, rather than pyramidal. Opening in succession from the tip to the bottom of the upright racemes, the little flowers will attract hordes of butterflies and other pollinators, and once they are spent, you will still enjoy its very finely cut, fern like and vibrant shamrock to emerald green foliage, whichever the light conditions you can offer it.

In fact, despite its elegant and even delicate appearance, ‘Purple Candles’ astilbe is a tough and trouble free bushy perennial, and it can grow well in sunny borders or even hedges, but also in the deep shade of forested and wooded areas. Ideal to mass plant and naturalize, it will suit most informal gardens, from cottage and country to urban and even oriental, and it looks lovely against walls or for cut flowers.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season:mid and late summer.
• Size:3 to 4 feet tall (90 to 120 cm) and 18 to 24 inches in spread (45 to 50 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral.

11: ‘Rhythm and Blues’ Astilbe (Astilbe x arendsnsii ‘Rhythm and Blues’)

Now, on to a astilbe variety with a totally different effect, bold and energetic, but still within the same color range, sort of… In fact, ‘Rhythm and Blues’ will literally glow with its vibrant cherry pink, magenta plumes of blossoms in early summer. Yes, its bloom time is a bit shorter than others, but it comes and goes with a real bang, and an amazing visual effect!

The pyramidal and upright racemes have clear lateral branches, which are fully packed with innumerable flowers, and the intensity of this powerful floral spectacle is impossible to ignore. And indeed, pollinators like bees and butterflies will not be able to resist it… rising to about 3 feet tall (90 cm), the inflorescences will fade but the amazingly dark green and finely cut foliage will persist, with its tan shades and even purplish touches.

‘Rhythm and Blues’ astilbe is perfect to bring light and energy to gardens in deep shade, but it will also thrive and give is super eye catching displays in beds, borders, containers and even on pond sides and river banks in well lit spots as well with its bubblegum personality.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season:early summer.
• Size:26 to 28 inches tall (65 to 70 cm) and 20 to 24 inches in spread (50 to 60 cm)
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

12: ‘Milk and Honey’ Astilbe (Astilbe chinensis ‘Milk and Honey’)

Maybe the softest perennial you can ever grow in your garden, ‘Milk and Honey’ hits very delicate notes with its summer blossoms. The exquisite achievement of thus variety is to blend shapes and shades of extreme sophistication… The fluffy pyramidal and upright racemes have so many little flowers that they look like wool, reaching 30 inches tall (75 cm) and lasting for about two months.

But then there is the refined color they display… It is cream white, mellow and sweet, but with a soft pink glow, which makes the whole blossom very charming and dream like. This hue deepens as time hors by, giving you stronger and stronger emotions towards the end of its flowering season.

If I had to choose another name for this plant, I would certainly use the word “dawn” in it. It is also robust and trouble free, and the finely textured, bushy foliage has a final decorative touch for you… It is almost variegated, green with silvery hints!

Yet another variety you can grow in all light conditions, including full shade, ‘Milk and Honey’ will suit a traditional looking borders or flower bed, bringing you pink blushed clouds with a romantic and really dreamy, mellow look.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season: mid and late summer.
• Size: 24 to 30 inches tall (60 to 75 cm) and 18 to 20 inches in spread (45 to 50 cm)
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral.

13: Dwarf Chinese Astilbe (Astilbe chinensis var. pumila)

And we come to the smallest of them all, the “little baby” of our feathery list: dwarf Chinese astilbe. Growing to a maximum of only 12 inches (30 cm), it still packs a lot of energy in such a small floral display! In fact, the conical to pyramidal racemes pointing to the sky are of the most vibrant, bright and energetic lavender purple ever!

The many luminous florets will last for about two months from late summer to early fall, rising above a lovely mound of mid to dark green, fern like and finely cut foliage. But don’t be deceived by its small size! This perennial is very tough and low maintenance, and it is also a champion… In fact, it has received the biggest prize of the gardening world: the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society!

With its small dimensions, dwarf Chinese astilbe is a great choice to bring positive energy and bright colors to your flower beds or border fronts, but also container and rock gardens, and it will grow in all light conditions, and in wet soil, so near ponds and streams, solving you lots of problems in your garden. I could also see it as good groundcover…

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season: late summer and early fall.
• Size: 8 to 12 inches tall (20 to 30 cm) and 16 to 18 inches in spread (40 to 45 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

14: ‘Hip Hop’ Astilbe (Astilbe x hybrida ‘Hip Hop’)

Ready for a colorful party? Then grow ‘Hip Hop’ astilbe in your garden and your summer days will be filled with joy! Yes, because this is a really particular variety of our herbaceous perennial indeed… We usually admire astilbes from a distance, for their overall effect, but our hybrid cultivar is different…

From afar, it will still give you a great floral display, but it looks its best when you get close and personal with its blooms… Coming on pyramidal and upright, layered panicles in June and July, the flowers are small, but not so much that you cannot see the individual heads…

And each blossom has a central bright scarlet red eye, with a lovely lime yellow “halo” around it, and then strong pink, on the bubblegum range, that spreads into the tiny pointed petals! Add all the shades of butterfly wings that will come to dance around them, and you get the full picture… Of course, all this is set on top of a lush and fern like mound of rich green and glossy leaves that add a final, luminous touch to this floral display!

Suitable for sunny or shady gardens in most informal styles, ‘Hip Hop’ can cheer up your days as part of a flower bed or borders, by a pond, or also under trees and shrubs, but grow ut where you can admire it at close range.

• Hardiness: USDA zones 3 to 8.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season: early and mid summer.
• Size:24 to 28 inches tall (60 to 70 cm) and 16 to 20 inches in spread (60 to 70 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

15: ‘Superba’ Chinese Astilbe (Astilbe chinensis var. taquetii ‘Superba’)

We come to a really superb variety of astilbe, which, in fact, goes by the haughty name of ‘Superba’. In fact, all about it is exceptional, starting from the height of its dense, conical and long plume like panicles, which reach 5 feet tall (1.5 meters)! But you will have to wait for “her highness” to bloom, like a prima donna, it will only start in late summer, but then it will reward you with its blossoms into early fall as well.

And, of course, what color could such a regal perennial’s flowers have? They are purple, on the violet mauve range, bright and vibrant, and wonderful when they wave regally in the wind, surrounded by butterflies and other pollinators!

But maybe I have been unfair, because its colorful display will actually start in spring, as the fern like and finely textured leaves emerge, in mahogany red, and then they turn rich green. And if you leave the stems on in winter, the florets will dry up and turn caramel! Of course, this cultivar is gardening royalty, as it has won the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society!

Definitely one of the most striking astilbe varieties to grow in your garden, late blooming ‘Superba’ can take center stage in an herbaceous border or by a pond side, and it will also give you a sumptuous display under trees or in woodland areas, and indoors as cut, fresh or dry flowers!

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Light exposure:full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season:late summer and early fall.
• Size:4 to 5 feet tall (1.2 to 1.5 meters) and 1 to 2 feet in spread (30 to 60 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

16: ‘Ostrich Plume’ Astilbe (Astilbe thunbergii ‘Ostrich Plume’)

If ‘Superba’ has a haughty and indeed superb personality, our next variety, ‘Ostrich Plume’ is no less impressive, and the perfect pick to close our selection of the best astilbes for your garden… Its floral display will grace your garden in mid summer, and it will do it with amazing arching, weeping panicles with layered stems, that form roughly triangular feathery clusters, indeed, like the plumes of the biggest bird on Planet Earth… Like in a Broadway musical, this prima donna will wave its blossoms in the wind, accompanied by a dance of butterflies, bees and many other pollinators…

And like a Hollywood star, it will do it with immense grace, but also with a refined taste… And this is fully reflected in the color of the hundreds of little flowers it will put on show… Yes, because they are of a very intense and yet refined, sophisticated but bright coral pink shade!

But all actors and actresses also need a stage, and our perennial will perform against a backdrop of super glossy and very rich green leaves, which are finely cut and fern like: the perfect scenery for a sumptuous floral spectacle. And, at the end, it will receive your applause, as it received the standing ovation of the Royal Horticultural Society, which has given it the Oscar of the gardening world, the Award of Garden Merit!

You can imagine the effect of the pink and arching blossoms that ‘Ostrich Plume’ will give to your garden, turning it into the green stage of your summer days’ open air parties with friends and family… Its best effect will come if you group plant it, in borders, near your pond, or under trees…

• Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 9.
• Light exposure: full Sun, partial shade and full shade.
• Flowering season: mid summer.
• Size: 24 to 30 inches tall (60 to 75 cm) and 24 to 28 inches in spread (60 to 70 cm).
• Soil and water requirements: fertile and organically rich, well or poorly drained, medium humid to wet loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from mildly acidic to neutral. It is wet soil tolerant.

Astilbe Varieties for an Elegant Garden with Plumes of Color

Elegant and colorful, but very tough and tolerant to many harsh growing conditions, astilbes can bring plumes of color and elegance to your garden, even in deep shade. All will attract lots of butterflies too, whichever variety you pick!