Astilbe Choices?

Does anyone have any astilbes that do well in our dry conditions? I was admiring art_n_gardens beautiful "Deutchland" and noticed it is right beside her pond. My astilbes are very unremarkable in size and barely bloom. 'Amethyst' is the only one that made a bit of a show until I moved it away from the garden tap duh!

Alas, I have never grown an Astibile. Oh oh. I feel an addiction coming on.

I have two beds with a mix of astibles my dearest love bought at Sams Club this Spring. No blooms yet (and I can't remember when they bloom), but they look happy. Okay, MOST of them look happy. There's one that looks like it sucked a lemon. Eastern exposure, and thirstier than I'd like, but so far so good in this heat wave/drought.

I thought I had a pic of them, but apparently just have one of their general area. They don't look very exciting without blooms, assuming you can even spot them. Hint: Look at the bottom right in front of the "We'll bloom when we darn well feel like it, thank you very much" glads.

Some guides list astilbe as deer resistant, others as deer candy. We've had a bunch of marauding moronic deer through our front yard, but they've turned up their collective noses at the astilbe so far.

Does anyone know if they want acidic or alkaline (sp?) soil?

'Moist rich organic soil' HA! I don't remember what that looks like. Slightly acidic is what I read kmargrave. I'm on the alkaline side myself but I add peat with my poop in the fall so I should have fixed that a bit I think.

I'm not sure where you were admiring my astilbe, oh how I love it so, but did you see my article that published today? If not and you posting this is a coincidence, then that's pretty funny. I also have a 'Fanal' that I can't pay to thrive. So go figure, these things are finicky! I can imagine it needs richer soil.

That Deutschland doesn't actually get that much moisture. Sure, it gets more than if it were on my terrace, but I only water it with everything else and I sure as heck hope there's not a leak in the pond watering it. It is in full sun as well from noon till the sun goes down. My vote is on Deutschland for our climate. In what environment are you growing them generally? Seems like they like a fine balance of sun to bloom and shade for their pickiness.

Here's a link to the article
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1249/
If you click on the photos, it'll take you to the PF page, which may or may not help.

LMAO art_n_garden. Way too funny. I was in meetings most of the day so other than checking in with you RM buds and Dahlia buds I didn't check out the articles. I started this thread on a lunch break from a note I made last night "astilbes gone to the dark side of the force, ask RM guys" from a note I had made about your fabby "Deutschland" (in a thread on the RM forum where you posted your pond). I always check out all the plants in every pic that everyone posts cuz I'm just plain always snooping for stuff that I might be able to grow ^_^

Too funny! Well, great minds think alike! Or...somewhere in there there's an immense amount of random. lol

Anyhow, I think Astilbe are an excellent dark side to cross over to! Betty, you too. :)

I saw beautiful astilbes on the Winning Gardens tour today. They had them in full sun!!! Guess whose moving astilbes next spring?