Astilba

Astilba is a compact, elegant plant in East Asia and North America. Its peristo-dissected, shiny foliage remains decorative all summer, and tiny flowers collected in large paniculate inflorescences rise above the open foliage on long peduncles, like tender, multi-colored sultans. Astilba blossoms for a long time, from the beginning of July to the middle of August.

The most popular hybrids are Arendse - tall( 70-100 cm) bushes with a variety of color inflorescences. They require a large enough area, about 50x50 cm. There are small forms, in particular, Chinese astilba( 15-20 cm), but it also requires an area of ​​30x30 cm. There are many other species, in particular, Japanese, Korean, Tunberg. They are all beautiful, so buy any.

Astilbe beautifully grow in the penumbra. And even in the shade of large trees feel great. They, of course, grow in the sun, but they fade much faster, and inflorescences-panicles burn out in the sun and lose their bright color. It is often recommended to use astilba for decorating phlox. This, of course, can be done, but the option is not the best. Firstly because phloxes need sunlight, secondly, phloxes need a soil with neutral reaction, and astilbe prefer partial shade and weakly acid soils. So, trying to please one plant, we create not the best conditions for others.

Astilbe prefer a humus-rich, moist soil, and therefore require watering in the dry season, otherwise their panicles will quickly dry up and lose any decorative effect. Plant better in August, after flowering.

Astilba has one feature. Its rhizome annually grows up by about 4 cm, and therefore bare. It takes soil every autumn, otherwise the plants can freeze in the harsh winter, and most importantly, they stop opening the buds. So there are dull panicles that do not blossom all summer until they finally dry up. Many gardeners do not know this and simply throw out the plant from their garden a year so after 3-4.

Astilba has no pests and diseases, which, of course, makes it easy for her to leave. After flowering the peduncles should be cut out, and the aboveground part should be left under the winter. It will hold the snow and serve as a kind of shelter in the winter cold, although without any cover, Astilba perfectly winter in the Northwest. In the early spring, the remnants of the old aboveground part must be removed. But it is possible and in the late autumn to cut the entire above-ground part to the ground and mow down to cover the protruding rhizome. In spring the plant, of course, does not get bored.

Astilba early starts to grow, so her first foliage can freeze during spring frosts. That's not fatal. The next one will grow, but such a frozen shrub will blossom later and blooming will be weaker. Due to the spring freezing of the foliage, it is not necessary to give nitrogen top dressing in the early spring. However, this applies to any plants in the North-West, since spring frosts are common in our country, and nitrogen reduces the frost resistance of plants. Therefore, like any other plant, Astilba, like any other plant, should be fed with nitrogen in the Northwest after the end of frosts, that is, at the very end of May and even in early June. From nitrate fertilization, it is better to use ammonium nitrate, potassium or urea, but then necessarily together with potassium. Potassium chloride is not desirable. It is enough to take 1 tbsp.spoon of nitrogen and potash fertilizer( or 2 tablespoons of potassium nitrate) per 10 liters of water and pour under the root of each plant.0.5 l solution. You can only limit the infusion of weeds( in particular, dandelions, which still have nowhere to go, as soon as a barrel of water, because the dandelion seeds do not rot in compost).You can use buoy fertilizers or any fertilizers for the spring subcortex of flowers. Use fertilizer AVA.(1 teaspoon every 3 years), which is brought under each bush around the rhizome, and slightly loosens it in the soil. But it does not contain nitrogen, and therefore every spring, as soon as soil dries and excess water dries, water the soil under all its plantings, and so the beds and soil - in greenhouses with a solution of "Phytosporin" plus "Gumi" or "Gumi-omi", or buoyous fertilizer "Omu".

Astilba multiplies by dividing rhizomes, and it is so hard that it is better to cut it with a hacksaw, and not shredded with a shovel. Time for dividing the bush is early spring and end of August. For the North-West, as mentioned above, only August is suitable. Slices should be covered with ashes. Delenki immediately planted in place according to the scheme of 30 x 30 cm and watered daily.

You can propagate Astilba with buds of renewal, which are on the rhizome, near the shoots of the current year. This is the most effective method of reproduction. It is necessary to excavate the rhizome slightly at the very beginning of the growth of young leaves( in the North-West this is the beginning of May).Renewal buds must be cut with a sharp knife together with a small piece of rhizome and put in boxes with a mixture of peat and very coarse sand or small pebbles in a ratio of 3: 1.Boxes put in the shade and make sure that the soil was constantly wet, but not too wet. Rooting begins about 20 days after planting. It is possible to speed up the process of watering the planting with "Kornevin".Already in late August this year, young plant can be transplanted into place.

Astilba can be propagated and seeded. They are very small, so they are not ground in the soil and are not sown directly into the soil, but grown through seedlings. Sowing should be done in March, cover the boxes with crops cover with glass and put in the refrigerator for about 10 days, then put in a bright warm place. In 10 days there will be tiny shoots, which must be watered with a syringe, inserting the needle into the soil. If you pour otherwise, you can wet the leaves and they will stick to the soil. Such plants die.

When the plants have 2-3 real leaves, they are dived( transplanted) in separate cups. Seedling can be replaced by the end of July according to the 30x30cm scheme. In autumn, young plants should be covered with lapnika. Flowering seedlings for the third year after planting. This laborious method of reproduction, besides grown from the seeds of the plant, does not inherit the color of the mother plant, but in this way it is possible to obtain new colors of the inflorescence. Usually, only breeders are engaged in seed breeding.

It is believed that astilba should be transplanted, divided and planted every 3-4 years. But experience shows that it is slowly gaining strength and only after 3-4 years it becomes really decorative. If you do fertilizing and pouring soil every fall, it grows excellent and blooms in one place up to 7-8 years, and it is not necessary to transplant it, it is enough to rejuvenate it. To do this, it is necessary to separate about a third of the rhizome and transplant( divide and sell, or give, or exchange for another plant).And the formed emptiness in the earth is filled with fresh, rich humus soil( well-repaired compost).For the next year or in a year, another third of the rhizome on the other side of the bush can also be separated. All slices should be immediately sprinkled with ashes.

All the variety of shades of white, pink, lilac, purple, violet, dark red colors creates an extraordinary effect both in the group planting of a large curtain, consisting only of astilbe, and when planting them in rows in a mixborder. Good astilba and on flowerbeds in combination with other plants. They can decorate those plants that have an ugly lower part, or those that, after flowering, lose any decorativeness altogether. There are undersized species of astilbe( 15-25 cm), which are quite suitable for rocky slides and curbs.