Astible must be hard to kill. I bought some two years ago, and the first year, took forever to get them planted, so they looked terrible. But they came back. Last summer, it was so flippin' hot here, and I don't think I watered them enough. Yet, this year, they are still alive. And I didn't even do everything that you did to revive mine! I'm probably going to pick up some more for a shade garden I'm creating this fall!

Its great to hear that they are so hardy. I bought one home a few days ago and put it still in its pot in a semi shaded lacation and it went totally crispy in one day. Should I cut all the foliage off to the crown to revive it?

I transplanted some Astilbe this summer. It was a hot week, but most of the directions I had been reading recommended transplanting Astilble immediately after they bloom.

Due to transplant shock, they lost most of their existing leaves. I was expecting that, and then a new flush of leaves began to emerge from most of them, so I figured no big deal. I was expecting new leaves to replace the old leaves, but they only reached about 1/3 the height of the former leaves.

Then, the astilbes dried out again. I do my gardening at my parents house because I live in an apartment, and my dad said "yeah I don't know why the shade garden looks so dry." I asked if anything there had been watered in the last week... the answer was no. Well *smacks forehead* there you go. 95-degree weather plus no water for a week will dry stuff out, and it apparently cancelled out all the time they'd spent establishing themselves.

I put down layers of newspaper and mulch and watered as much as I could. That put the breaks on the dying... some leaves got broken during the mulching, but after that the leaves that were there remained. They look bad: some of the astilbes have no leaves at all (the plants appear completely dormant), others have about 1/3 of the mature leaves they were transplanted with, just with crispy edges, and others have 1/3 to 2/3 of their additional crop of leaves left.

As for the "dormant" ones: will they survive? Or did they use up all their stored energy on the flush of leaves that didn't pan out?

As for the ones with a few, scraggly leaves: will they be able to re-generate next spring (assuming they get lots of water then) in time to bloom in the summer?

Or should I just write these off?

Plants can surprise you. I had a lovely shade garden along the north side of the garage in Indiana--hydrangeas, hostas, lady ferns, astilbe, lady's mantle, and Checquers lamium. I neglected it shamefully, but it pulled through hot spells very well anyway.

The way I see it, you have nothing to lose by leaving the crispy astilbes in place. They may look a little tacky this season, but if you keep them watered (maybe you can train the parents?), I bet you'll find that a lot of them bloom for you next year. Even the ones that look "dormant" right now may be busily rooting underground.

Jennifer

I agree you'll be surprised with the results next year.

Astilbe goes dormant if dry, but the roots should survive. I've read to get good bloom you'll need to feed them in October, so I'm going to add a shovelful of rabbit manure between the plants. If you don't have access to that try compost or used coffee grounds mixed in the mulch & let the winter rains water it through the layers.

I've used a lot of coffee grounds around my gardens with excellent results. It sounds funny, but it really works to improve the soil with little effort.