Propagate by division or separation - Divide in spring. Division every 3 or 4 years helps keep plants healthy. Discard old, weakened rhizomes and replant only newer, healthy roots.

Deadhead if self-seeding is a problem, but it won't induce more flowering.

Astilbes generally do not need staking.

Water during dry spells.

Remove dead leaves or cut back plants to the ground if their foliage becomes dried out and brown during summer. This will encourage more foliage growth if cool, moist conditions return, or plants may remain dormant until spring.

Allow spent foliage to remain for the winter. Spent blooms are ornamental in fall and winter. Cut back to the ground in the spring.

Astilbes are heavy feeders and respond well to high-nitrogen fertilizer in fall.

Needs well-drained soil overwinter.

More growing information: How to Grow Perennials

Tarnished plant bug
White fly
Black vine weevil
Japanese beetle

Powdery mildew
Bacterial leaf spot
Cercospora leaf spot

var. davidii grows 3 to 6 feet tall with deep green leaves heavily flushed with bronze. Bears rosy purple blooms in dense, erect, branching heads.

'Pumila' grows 1 foot tall with violet-lavender blooms in late summer. Tolerates drier soils than most Astilbes.

var. taquetii 'Superba' grows 3 feet tall with rose-tinted purple blooms in late summer. Leaves are deep green heavily flushed with bronze and slightly crinkled in appearance.

'Finale' grows 1.5 feet tall with rosy-pink blooms in late summer.

'Intermezzo' grows 1.5 feet tall with rosy-pink blooms in late summer.

'Purple Candles' ('Purpurkerze') grows 3 feet tall with violet-purple blooms in late summer.

'Purple Lance' ('Purpurlanze') grows 3 feet tall with reddish-purple blooms in late summer.

'Serenade' grows 1 to 1.5 feet tall with reddish-pink blooms in late summer.

'Veronica Klose' grows 1.5 feet tall with reddish-violet blooms in late summer.

'Visions' grows 1.5 feet tall with rosy-red blooms in mid- to late summer.