Q. How can I get my astilbe to bloom a second time?
Belmont, Massachusetts
A. You asked how you can get your Astilbe to rebloom. You can’t! It is not in their nature. What you can do is plant two different kinds in order to get a longer period of bloom. The arendsii group bloom the earliest, usually in June and the cultivars in this group are clumpers. Astilbe chinensis usually does not bloom until July. These are rhizomatous—the plumes are thicker and last for a long time, even after they have lost their color. They also come in a variety of sizes, some dwarf such as ‘Pumila’, some small (12-15”) such as ‘Visions’, some medium (24”) such as ‘Spatsommr’, and some large (36-48”) such as ‘Strauseenfeder’ or ‘Prof. van der Wielen’.
Perennially,
Bobbie Schwartz
Bobbie’s Green Thumb
Shaker Heights, Ohio
