Astilbe
Astilbe
A long-lived perennial for moist shade, with ferny leaves and feathery plumes of red, pink or white in early summer that are lovely cut or dried. It blooms best in light shade and rich soil, and deer and rabbits usually leave it be. Its one demand is steady moisture: dry soil, above all in sun, browns the leaves fast.
- Mature size
- 1.5 × 1.5 ft
- 0.5 × 0.5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Part sun to full shade
- Water
- Medium to moist
- Blooms
- Jun–Jul
Astilbe at its mature size
A mature Astilbe grows 20 inches tall and 18 to 20 inches wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: Walters Gardens.
Through the year
What Astilbe looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Below ground · Nov–Apr
Dies back to the ground.
In leaf · May, Aug
Mound of glossy bronze-tinged dark green fern-like leaves, no plumes.
In flower · Jun–Jul
Upright feathery plumes of deep red flowers above the leaves.
Fall · Sep–Oct
Plumes dried to rusty brown, still upright, foliage darkening.
Growing Astilbe
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Shade garden and deer resistant
- Leaves
- Dies back in winter
- Native to
- China, Japan, and Korea
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Astilbe, that’s about 1.5 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Astilbe in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.