Grow, ‘Not Ellie’, Grow!

Astilbes are one of the most care-free perennials you can grow. They come in white and shades of peach, pink, purple and red. They thrive in shady conditions, but will flourish in full sun if they are watered regularly. Most astilbes bloom for about 4 weeks from late spring through mid-summer, although there are many later-blooming cultivars. They range in height from 4 inches to 48 inches.

I grow quite a few astilbe cultivars, but my favorite one is a mystery. You may remember “Not Rozavel”, my mislabeled daylily. Unfortunately, for the last few years my favorite astilbe has been affectionately known as ‘Not Ellie.’

In the photo above, the fuzzy lavender plants on the left are Astilbe chinesis ‘Visions.’ To their right is a raspberry-colored astilbe that I just adore. It was labeled ‘Ellie’ at the greenhouse. When it bloomed that yummy shade of berry, I decided I wanted to add more of them to my garden. After some online research I discovered, however, that ‘Ellie’ is a white cultivar. Whoops.

I’ve been trying to figure out my mystery astilbe for several years now. The Flower Factory, where I purchased it from, lists scores of astilbes in their catalog, but none match the description of my striking pink plant. With hundreds of astilbe cultivars in existence, searching online is just a big waste of time. I thought the case was solved when ‘Erica’ appeared in this spring’s Flower Factory catalog. It starts with an “E” like ‘Ellie’ so I could understand how the tags could get mixed up, and it is described as having “rich pink plumes.” I got excited thinking I’d finally found it. I searched for photographs of ‘Erica’ online and quickly discovered that it’s a light pink astilbe. Foiled again!

I guess if I want more ‘Not Ellie’ plants, I’m going to have to do it the old-fashioned way and wait until my plant is big enough to divide.