Description and characteristics of astilbe variety Amethyst, planting and care

Astilbe is a decoration for shady areas of the site. It is loved by gardeners for its unpretentiousness, long flowering, and delicacy of foliage. Astilbe Arendsa Amethyst is a variety that is very popular among gardeners. This beautiful plant blooms for a month with lilac inflorescences. More information about planting and caring for trees below.

History of the development of the Amethyst variety

In the 20th century, the German botanist Georg Arends and the French botanist Emile Lemoine developed many varieties of astilbe of varying heights, flowering periods and inflorescence colors. They were the founders of the classification of plant forms and varieties. After their death, the plant was forgotten for some time, but is now experiencing a rebirth.

Currently, selection work continues. Astilbe Arends is a common group of varieties that is very popular among gardeners for its beauty. In addition to Amethyst, flower growers plant in the Brautschleiger, Rose Pearl, Diamond, and Fanel areas.

Advantages of use in landscape design

Astilbe serves as a decoration for the garden plot. It is used in mixborders, combined with lily, phlox, and aquilegia. The openwork leaves of astilbe will stand out effectively against the background of hostas, bergenia, and evergreen shrubs. It can be planted in pots, which are then moved to different places in the local area.

Planting the plant next to bulbous crops will be beneficial: daffodils, tulips, muscari, snowdrops, crocuses, hyacinths. When they fade, there is a clearing left with ugly protruding, drying trunks. As it develops, astilbe will cover the area with its spectacular leaves and inflorescences.

Brief characteristics and description

Astilbe Amethyst is a perennial herbaceous shrub reaching a height of 80-100 centimeters. The plant spreads 50-80 centimeters wide. The leaves are green, the lilac narrow inflorescence consists of numerous small flowers. Its length is about 30 centimeters, width – 7-10 centimeters.

Astilbe blooms for 30 days, starting at the end of June. After flowering, seed pods are formed. The plant will develop best in partial shade. Amethyst is a frost-resistant variety; it does not require shelter for the winter.

Necessary conditions for growth

The site for planting astilbe should be chosen in the shade, with a high groundwater table. The root system develops well in a humid environment. The plant makes no special claims to the composition of the soil, but loose soil with normal acidity is preferable. A bush can develop in one place for about 10 years.

Advice! Although the bush may bloom already in the first year after planting, it is better to prevent this. First, the plant must get stronger and grow a rhizome in order to overwinter well.

How to plant a crop in the garden

To develop bushes, you need to choose the right seedling, choose a planting site, and plant the rhizome at the required period.

Choosing a healthy and strong seedling

You need to purchase rhizomes with short shoots as early as possible. If the weather is still cool, you can keep it in the refrigerator or other cold place. By being late with the purchase, the gardener risks purchasing a plant with elongated, twisted shoots. Also, when choosing a rhizome, you need to pay attention to ensure that it is free of rotten and dried fragments.

Preparing the place

Before planting Amethyst astilbe, the area is cleared of debris, dug up, and rotted manure is added to it. After which the area is enlarged, holes are made at a distance of at least 30 centimeters from one another. Their size should be such that the rhizomes have enough space to grow and develop.

Timing and technology of planting

Astilbe Amethyst is planted after the soil has warmed up. This usually happens in May.Planting is done as follows:

• holes are dug, the soil in them is mixed with ash, mineral fertilizers, as well as with a hydrogel that helps retain moisture in the soil;
• the holes are watered with water, rhizomes are planted in them;
• plantings are covered with earth.

Astilbe has a shallow root system, so the plant is not planted deep into the ground. To retain moisture in the soil, plantings are mulched with peat or tree bark.

Plant care

Care consists of frequent watering, especially in dry summers, careful loosening, and mulching of the soil. In addition, to ensure rich colors, you need to feed the plant. Bushes are also inspected to identify pests and diseases. If necessary, overgrown plantings are replanted.

Watering

Astilbe Amethyst is a moisture-loving planting. Therefore, it needs to be watered often, in dry summers twice a day: in the morning and in the evening. If there is not enough moisture in the soil, the plant reduces its decorative qualities: the inflorescences become smaller and lose their richness of color.

Fertilizing

For young plants, fertilizing applied during planting is sufficient. Adult bushes are fertilized with nitrogen immediately after shoots appear. It helps plants adapt faster after winter, and also promotes the growth of openwork foliage.

The next feeding is done directly during budding with a phosphorus-potassium mixture. It will contribute to the abundant and long-lasting flowering of Amethyst astilbe. To ensure that the bushes survive the winter well, in the fall they apply another fertilizer with a predominant potassium fertilizer.

Important! For the winter, bushes, especially those planted in the fall, need to be mulched with peat, tree bark, dry leaves, and also covered with spruce branches.

Bush formation

Astilbe does not require pruning: it forms a crown on its own.To make the plant look aesthetically pleasing, you need to remove faded flower stalks and leaves that have dried out for any reason. There is no need to leave the flower shoot: the resulting seeds weaken the development of the plant.

Preventive treatments against diseases and insects

Astilbe Amethyst is rarely attacked by pests and diseases, but sometimes it does happen. The plant, for example, may be favored by pennitsa. A sign of its appearance is the presence of abundant foam on the stems.

You can get rid of pennies by treating the plant with an insecticide. To prevent the appearance of pests, it is necessary not to thicken the plantings, and also to remove weeds and plant debris from the site. To prevent diseases, bushes are sprayed with fungicide in the spring.

Transfer to a new place

If the place on the site is not suitable for astilbe, it needs to be replanted. The procedure is performed in spring or autumn as follows:

1. A landing hole is dug in advance. In size it should be 2 times larger than the root system of the bush.
2. The astilbe is dug up and immediately transplanted to a new location.
3. The roots are carefully straightened and covered with soil.
4. The bushes are watered and mulched with peat to retain moisture.

Astilbe should be replanted as early as possible. This makes it easier for the plant to adapt to a new location.

Reproduction methods

On their plots, gardeners most often propagate astilbe by dividing the bush. To do this, an adult bush is dug up in spring or autumn and divided into parts, each of which must have a rhizome and shoots. The delenki are planted in a permanent place, watered and mulched.

Another method is propagation in the spring by renewal buds. In this case, the bud with rhizome is planted in a substrate consisting of peat and sand, watered, and covered with film.Bushes are planted in open ground in the fall. Propagation of astilbe by seeds is long-term and is usually not used by gardeners. It is used by breeders to develop new varieties.

The main problems encountered when growing astilbe

Most often, when growing a planting, the following problems arise:

1. The bushes develop poorly. This can happen when astilbe is planted in a place that is too sunny or, conversely, in the shade. The best place for it is partial shade.
2. Astilbe does not bloom. This can happen for several reasons: the bush is too old and needs replanting; the plant is too young, it blooms the next year after planting; excess nitrogen fertilizer.

Note! An excess of nitrogen can lead to the bush not blooming, but only growing foliage abundantly.

Planting astilbe Amethyst will help the gardener to decorate the site in an unusual and impressive way. It is easy to care for and is rarely attacked by pests and diseases. In the landscape, astilbe is planted next to the same shade-loving plantings. It is especially indispensable in plantings with bulbous plants, after flowering of which it covers the unsightly clearing with its lacy foliage.