I have some I can send you, I harvested them this year, my plants make lovely pink-rose flowers. Send me an e-mail if you are interested and I'll e-mail you a picture of them.
Mary

gratefulgardener3300 - I harvested dry, mature flower/seed heads from my best astilbes in late November this year and put them in a brown paper bag on the attic stairs to dry all the way. I haven't tried harvesting the seeds because from what I've read on this forum, they're nearly impossible to grow from seed. Be that as it may, I should be able to shake some seeds out so if you'd like some I'd be happy to send you a packet in exchange for a SASBE. Wish I could be positive they'd sprout and grow but I don't know that yet for certain. With luck you might be the first to post that you grew them from seed. Send me an email if you'd like to give it a try.

Sorry, but I must disagree with Gardenweed. I have had reat success with Astilbe to the point that I am no longer doing them. My goal was to have enough to start eliminating the Hostas in some of the gardens since the deers eat the Hostas but not the Astilbes. You can see some winter sown Astilbes in the following photo.

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They are actually quite easy. Just press the seeds on the surface of the moist soil - don't even bother covering them. Do not expect early germination - more like late June/early July. Keep that soil moist.

Another thing I do is I place the containers in dappled shade. They are truly at home there as mature plants and now reseed on their own. :O)

tiffy - thanks for contradicting me! I've read whatever I found here on GW about WS astilbe and you're the first person to have reported success. So that's good news and makes me glad I harvested some seed heads this year. I'll give them a whirl and let you know how they do. Thanks for the tip about the slower germination too--it'll keep me from getting discouraged.

tiff - your astilbe always amaze me - just gorgeous

Carrie

Those are beautiful astilbe.

I have winter sown seeds of astilbe from trades several times and not gotten any germination. Seed from my own astilbe germinated sporadically and I ended up with just a couple of plants. I am not giving up and will try again this year.

Astilbe does not self sow for me.

Iam so happy to see this posting,
Tiffy, on one of the posings, i asked you if you knew the name of the ones your grew, i can not remember which posting it was, so i did not see your amswer,would you have any seed for ssse?
I love the color of yours.
Thanks,
cAROL

Does anyone know if astilbe seeds look tiny like dust motes, similar to buddleia and foxglove? I shook some seed heads over a piece of white paper and tiny, tiny specks fell out. The rest makes me think it's just chaff. I Googled and there are no pictures on the UK seed ID site either. No luck getting a visual from Google. I'm happy to trade seeds and have multiple stunning plants but don't want to short change anyone out of ignorance. If someone has harvested astilbe seeds and sowed them successfully, a few details would be enormously helpful to those of us hoping to grow more of these elegant perennials from seed.

Carol.

I went and deadheaded everything this year and collected very few seeds. In the Astilbe department, I don't think I collected any at all but will check in the next few days to see if any were left in the gardens and will contact you if there were.

Gardenweed,

Oh gosh!! They are so tiny it's incredible. When I requested Astilbe seeds in the past I would tell the trader to send me a spent seed stem from the plant and not even bother looking for the seeds. Then I would sow chaff and all over the surface of the soil, just gently crumbling the whole thing in my hand as I sowed. That is how I've traded them in the past as well - I've sent the whole seed head/stem.

tiffy - thanks so much for clearing that up. I saved some seed heads from my most amazing astilbes but wasn't even going to WS them unless I thought I could find the seeds. I did as you suggested and crumbled a few seed heads but figured I'd need to include the chaff as well as the seed in any trades.

cAROL, I've got seed heads if you still want some for WS. Just shoot me an email with your address and I'll send you some of the ones that are like tiffy's gorgeous, fluffy pink one in the other thread you mentioned. I got mine from O'Brien Hosta in Granby, CT so I can't guarantee the name 100%--only what the plant was marked when I bought it.

cAROL, the other thread where you saw the photo of the fluffy pink astilbe is What are your Favorites? / Mainstays of your Garden. I opened the thread and when I scrolled down I saw the photo. That's the pink astilbe chinensis I have growing here too--I just divided it this year for the first time.

Gardenweed,
I am sending you an e mail.

Yep, thats the posting,sometimes i read so many, and then can't remember where it was at,thank you.
I do believe they are the prettiest Astilbe i have seen.
cAROL

I decided to WS 2 containers of seeds + chaff today after reading the seeds are as tiny as dust motes. I figure if I get anything I'm ahead of the game. Astilbes seem to love the climate & soil here--I divided a few this year and gave the divisions to a neighbor. She was over the moon excited to get them so it's possible her wall of reserve was lowered a little.
Several of the astilbes I've planted came from a big box store that was selling bare-root perennials. Color me happy they turned out to be some of the most amazing plants in terms of size and blooms.

Does Astilbe flower on the first year?

Mel

Mel,

This is a perennial which will make you wait. If you have good soil, they will flower in their second year, but I generally have to wait for year three.

My sentiment on this is that plants which require more patience in the beginning and less work in the end are the ones which give the most gratification! :O) This is definitely one of those plants.

Tiffy,

Thanks for letting me know. I have good soil as I made sure to mix in black forest before starting any of my flower beds. It is expensive but seeing my plants go crazy in it makes it worth it, plus it retains moisture so I water less. Hopefully they will flower in the second year. Since my front beds are bare (just bought the house) I think that I will end up purchasing some Astilbe to begin with and seed to fill it in. I do have some Hostas and liriope and I planted some Hydrangeas in the fall. It is a large bed and I just can't wait to get it at least half planted.

Mel

Mel,
I totally understand your anxiety, I bouhgt my house last year and all the garden beds are dirt and weeds as well. it's so frustrating having to wait for the ground to unfreeze here in CT. I'm anxious to get as much into the ground this year as possible. I've been going online nursery shopping crazy but have every sunny window going with seeds again this year. However, this year I researched what got all my little plants last year..SLUGS!!! I'm ready and waiting with my SLUGGO :) good luck to you and if your looking for a good deal (pricewise) on astibles plants to start with while some seeds mature try Michigan bulbs.com or Spring hill nursery. com . I got some stuff from them both this year and last and the price was good, quality decent.

I have bought a packet of 100 seeds from SwallowTailGardenSeeds and after three weeks of staying at 70F and with 16 hours of grow light per day, only three super-tiny seedlings have grown. I think I also have a problem with Fungus Gnats, and I have treated the soil with Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer for Soil and Turf. So, I have a 3% germination so far... that is quite disappointing, but I am happy at the same time because I see people here that can't even make to germinate one seed out of the thousands that have out of their pre-existing plants.

The problem now is: Will these seedlings grow strong and be ready for Spring transplanting?
Advices are VERY welcome! I do not want to lose these precious seedlings!

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Melaroma - what is black forest? I am intrigued!

Yes,inquiring minds want to now.
What IS Black Forest?
cAROL

ok I had to look up black forest..
Now I need to get some :)

Here is a link that might be useful: black forest description

Last year my seedling astilbe grew very slowly and was still quite small when I planted it out in the fall.

I hope Tiffy responds with her experience as know she has ws and grown astilbe.