Astilbe - how to grow and care for

POSTED 13th November 2025

Astilbe’s foliage is a quiet star: often divided and lobed, elegant in form, sometimes bronzed when emerging and in some varieties beautifully coloured again in autumn.

Then come the flower plumes. From stiff, upright pyramids packed with tiny blooms to long, arching stems with flowers more delicately spaced. Colours range from pure white through soft pastels to vivid pinks and fiery reds.

Wildlife credentials

Astilbes grow best in a moisture retentive soil, looking perfectly at home beside water or in a damp border. They’re not just beautiful - their massed flowers are nectar-rich, making them a magnet for bees and butterflies. (In their native range, even hummingbirds visit - sadly not something we can expect in the UK!)

Just some of our range:

Astilbe 'Bronce Elegans' - a beautiful dwarf hybrid. Green foliage, less finely cut than Astilbe 'Sprite', darkened with bronze shadows, makes a perfect base for arching sprays of tiny flowers which combine cream and salmon pink, during late summer. Height and spread

Astilbe 'Bronce Elegans'

Astilbe chinensis var. taquetii 'Purpurlanze' - Standing tall and elegant, narrow pyramidal heads of dark buds open vivid, light-purple fluffy flowers. Height and spread 90cm x 60cm.

Astilbe chinensis var. taquetii 'Purpurlanze'

Astilbe chinensis var. taquetii 'Superba' - this unusual astilbe flowers in late summer when most of the other astilbes are over. Tall stately stems carry large, dense spires of fluffy rosy-mauve flowers. It is an easy strong plant and will stand full sun provided it has retentive soil. Height and spread 1.2m x 50cm

Astilbe chinensis var. taquetii 'Superba'

Astilbe 'Grete Pungel' (x arendsii) - above finely-cut bronze-tinted foliage stand narrow, pyramidal heads of densely set flowers, opening rose-pink fading to pale pink on dark stained stems. Very distinctive. Height and spread 90cm x 45cm