PERENNIALS > ASTILBE > OVERWINTERING

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ASTILBE GUIDES

pink flowering astilbe growing outside

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Astilbes are swell for a moist , part shaded spot in your garden , and when grow in conditions which they enjoy , they can bloom reliably over a telephone number of long time .

These are full hardy herbaceous plants , which will die back each wintertime , before bursting into a new life in the spring .

white flowering astilbe growing outside

astilbe are also splendid low - upkeep perennial , which will not require a lot of care or attention – peculiarly once ground .

In the UK , Astilbe will sail through the winter with ease before coming back into active growth in saltation .

But before winter arrives , there are a couple of options that you might consider when it come to caring for your astilbe :

someone using secateurs to prune a dead astilbe plant growing outside

Some gardeners will choose to care for Astilbes by cut back the brownish , beat flowering head before winter , but , as discussed below , we recommend that you wait until later before cutting back .

1) Deadhead In Summer Or Autumn

The main ground that gardener might take to remove spent flowering plume or florescence too soon is to preclude the plant from self - seeding .

In area where optimum conditions are available , these plant can now and then self - ejaculate .

This can be interesting , though plant may not resemble their parent plant .

brown, dead flowers growing on tall stems of astilbe plants growing outside in front of green foliage

If you wish to foreclose the plants from going to sow , then you could turn off off the drop flowers before the seeds form .

However , ego - seeding is rarely prolific , where it happen at all , so these plants are not in any style potential to take over your garden .

Therefore , deadheading is not required for these plants .

Gardeners may also simply pick out to deadhead at the end of the year to keep thing look neat and tidy in the wintertime garden .

This is to some extent a matter of personal preference , but there are several rationality to conceive holding off before you cut back Astilbe plants .

2) Cut Back In Winter

If you leave Astilbes alone once the flowering has finished , one benefit is that over fall and former winter , the deadheads can really look rather attractive .

They can still have an impressive erect form and , though they have faded to Robert Brown , can bestow architectural dramatic play to a perennial boundary line or another worthy spot in your garden .

As autumn wears on and winter begins , these dead chaff and the foliage also , crucially , supply valuable home ground and nutrient sources for winter wildlife .

So , if you require to have a wildlife - well-disposed garden , you should leave these in position before you cut all the stems and foliage off in late winter to make elbow room for unexampled ontogeny in the spring .

3) Mulching

“ Astilbes prefer plenteous , dampish soils , so a mulch of constitutional topic around the plant in the former fall after rain will conserve moisture in the soil and improve its structure , ” shares Master Horticulturist Roy Nicol .

“ Allowing your astilbe plant to get at nutrients in the stain will help to support warm development in the saltation . ”