Some later blooming astilbe are: Chinensis 'Finale' rose, 'Intermezzo' rose pink, 'Pumila' lavender, 'Purple Candles' or' Purpurkerze'reddish purple, 'Serenade' rose red, 'Superba' rosy purple, 'Veronica Klose' red purple.Among the simplcifolia group 'Bronze Elegegans' light pink, 'Dunkellachs' dark rose, 'William Buchanan' creamy white are later blooming varieties. Astilbe Thunbergii 'Moerheimii' creamy white. Some of the newer hybrids out in the last couple of years may also be late blooming but I don't know for sure. Anyway these should get you started on the astilbe. Go to thelilygarden.com buggycrazy.com or Search for B&D lilies. All of them have great selections of lilies and good descriptions.

Hostaholic...this is awesome. Thanks so much for your suggestions. I'm going to try and order some today if possible.

An informal survey of my zone 6 garden this morning - the only astilbes not in bud yet are pumila chinensis, Sprite, Visions, and Peach Blossom.

Gdionelli, thanks for the update. In Z5, my Astilbes are just beginning to get buds. But, they are the early bloomers.

I think you're making a mistake w/ the monarda, lilly combination. I've been growing orientals for years and they need a lot of food to do well. The monarda, if fed this much, will take over your whole garden. Probably won't bloom either, with such rich soil. Lillies make a stupendous planting interspersed with astilbe, so I'd put them together (astile also need to be fed a lot.) the lillies do very well under a hgh tree canopy or in partial shade.

Rivka - Thanks for the advice. It was just a thought to intermingle them to make up for the "Hole" that will be left after the Monarda die back in July/August.
I never feed my Astilbe...should I be doing that?
Jan

Astilbes really like an application of organic matter each year. And, of course, lots of water.

The Monarda probably won't like the partial shade either. Mine are in full sun; not sure if they can take the shade. Are Monarda the backdrop? Maybe tall ferns would be better, and compete less.

My monarda don't die back? They just grow and crawl and run....and pretty well stay green until frost....
What am I doing wrong, or right!? LOL!
Linda C

Mine don't die back (but don't run, either; I've also had problems getting a stand going. This time I bought the old-fashioned no-name red ones, probably the species; slowly increasing.). But the heads look ugly and dried up after blooming, so after they've shed their seed and the birds have had their fill I've cut them down to whatever level still looks nice. Which is a foor or two topped off. That does leave sort of a "hole"; maybe that's what the others mean. I think a lot of people cut them down when done or mildewed.

Janice; I give my astilbe a good inch of composted manure each spring and they look gorgeous. As far as a companion plant for Monarda, I have had great success with echinacea. both are equally tenacious, so they sort of achieve a balance with each other. the echinacea bloom until frost in my area (zone 4)and will hide any bare spots. Also if you cut some of your monarda back before blooming, you can extend the bloom time. I usually cut 1/2 of mine back by 1/2. Monarda don't need full sun. happy gardening!

Black Beauty is a lily that will tolerate quite a lot of shade. BB will need staking. She doesn't break but she will bend over. I use the tall fake bamboo stakes, one per flower stalk, and gardener's string.

Picture was taken 7/25/06. She generally blooms a bit later than that for me, but last year she didn't. Most of my orientals bloom in August. BB is a clone of an old (50 years ago) cross, not technically an oriental, but is definitely my best shade bloomer. I attached a link to one of the best online lily sites for you.
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Here is a link that might be useful: Lily Garden

Linnea and Linda....that's exactly what I mean re the Monarda (bloom, fade, mildew and cut back = big open space).
It's great that your plants last all season as...mine are great, but short lived. They get a decent amount of sun, but with big trees around, they don't get "full" sun all day long.

Rivka...I have Echincea growing in other spaces, so I can dig some up and inter space with the Monarda...sounds good.
When you cut your Monarda back, do you literally cut the tops off, or pinch to the lst leaves??

Leslie, I bought 3 late blooming Orientals yesterday, so it will be interesting to see how they do. I've only grown Asiatic lilies, so don't know what to expect. Thanks for the link.
Also bought some late blooming Astilbe. Do I need manure, or can I use plant food? I don't usually feed my plants.

I cut back monarda 1/2 down when I first see flower buds -- I cut half of them this way and leave the other half alone so that the blooms come in tiers.

I don't have experience w/ chemical food -- but astilbe and lillies both are heavy feeders and I give them an inch of manure. If using chemical food, I guess I'd go with something slow-acting, so you don't have to repeat it midsummer. But as I say, I always use compost so I don't have the experience with other kinds of amendments. I do put in a little osmocote when I first plant them. In general, don't feed perennials too much -- these are the exceptions!