Deer-resistant shade plants are a smart choice for gardens with low light and plenty of browsing deer. Gardening where deer are plentiful can be challenging, especially in shady conditions. Focus on ...

Understanding the Context

MSN: How to grow astilbe โ€“ expert advice on cultivating this shade-tolerant flowering perennial Season-long color for the shade is hard to come by, yet one plant can deliver even in dark areas of the yard. Astilbe - or False goat's beard - gives you that much-needed color for shade, along with ... How to grow astilbe โ€“ expert advice on cultivating this shade-tolerant flowering perennial Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. So, you've planted a beautiful garden and the local deer saw it as their next feast.

Key Insights

Now what? Nothing is more frustrating than ... Astilbe is also known as False Goat's Beard or False Spirea. Astilbes are some of the first plants to peek through the soil in Spring to grow fast and vigorous, filling in very quickly. The popular cultivar 'Visions ' is pictured to the right.

Final Thoughts

Though all Astilbe look fairly similar, cultivars tend to differ in several categories: My Astilbe is growing on a gentle slope, in clay soil at the edge of a pond, in the shade of a willow tree. I think perhaps that for Astilbe, partial shade and constant moisture may be more important than level ground. I'm researching plants for a shady backyard. The yard is currently completely bare with just some scrubby grass. I've found lots of great ideas here on DG. One of the classic shade plants is Astilbe, but when I look at the profiles on DG, I can't find any that are reported growing in the Houston area.

Has anyone successfully grown Astilbes in the Houston area, or am I just out of luck there ...