Is Astilbe deer resistant?

Feathery plumes over ferny foliage, and one of the few things that flowers properly in real shade. Deer take the odd bite and move on.

The failure mode is always water. Astilbe has no drought tolerance at all, and a week of dry August will crisp the leaf edges brown and finish the display for the season. Once scorched it does not recover until next spring. Plant it where the soil stays damp, not merely where it is shady, because dry shade under a maple will kill it and gardeners blame the shade.

Divide every three or four years. The crown pushes itself upward out of the soil as it ages, and a clump that has risen proud will dry out faster and flower less.

Do deer eat astilbe?

Seldom. Rutgers rates Astilbe Seldom Severely Damaged, B, and NC State's entry for the Arendsii hybrids says "The plant attracts butterflies and is resistant to rabbits and deer." The ferny, slightly rough leaf is the reason, and astilbe is the flowering plant that fills the space a hosta leaves in a shaded bed, one tier below hellebore and bleeding heart and three above the hosta.

Where it grows

NC State: zones 3a to 9b, 1 1/2 to 4 1/2 feet, from dappled shade to full sun "but will require constant moisture," plumes from spring into fall by cultivar. Every failure is water: "In hot summer or periods of drought, the foliage may decline if the soil is not kept moist." Dry shade under a maple is the site that kills it, and the deer get no blame for that one.

Protecting astilbe

Rarely needed. Where plumes are being taken as they color, one application of the 20 percent egg spray Colorado State rates High. Where rabbits are the problem, the spring shoots at ground level are theirs, and a wire ring for a month covers it.

If it is browsed

It regrows from the crown, and plumes taken are gone for the year; the foliage is the display for the rest of the season if the ground stays wet. A crown that has pushed itself up out of the soil dries first and is the one to reset.