The Pink Flower That Thrives In Shaded Beds Isn't Foxglove

As lovely as shady garden beds can look thanks to their lush foliage plants like hostas and ferns, it can sometimes be a challenge to find colorful flowers to add to spots with little sun. While foxgloves can provide stunning blooms in part-shade locations, they have their limits when it comes to deeper shade. If you want cheery pink flowers even in darker garden spots, consider opting instead for stunning 'Bremen' astilbe (Astilbe japonica 'Bremen'). Simply plant it in a low-light, moist place and enjoy its rose-colored blooms in late spring.

Native to Japan, 'Bremen' astilbe and other Astilbe japonica cultivars are ideal for everything from part to full shade gardens. Hardy in zones 4 through 9, their blooms are a great way to add vibrant color even to areas with little direct sunlight. They'll also help ensure your local pollinators enjoy your shade garden, since butterflies and bees love astilbe. And they even provide winter interest if you opt to leave the dried flower stalks up through the cold season. Alternatively, you could cut and bring them indoors to enjoy the dried astilbe flowers. Best of all, they're rarely bothered by deer and rabbits, so you don't have to worry about those adorable pests eating away all your pretty pink blooms.

In addition to a shady spot, your 'Bremen' astilbes also need moist and well-draining soil to thrive. Since they appreciate a quite fertile growing medium, amending with compost is a great way to ensure the soil meets their needs for drainage, moisture retention, and fertility. Plan to divide your astilbe every few years to get even more gorgeous plants to fill out your garden or share with friends.

'Bremen' astilbe generally blooms in May and June with panicles of rose colored flowers. As they only reach around 2 feet tall, these plants are the perfect additions to the middle of shady borders, with taller shrubs behind them and a living mulch of shade-loving ground cover plants like lungwort in front. And when they're not flowering, their pretty fern-like foliage can still add an elegant touch to the garden. 

Unlike many plants, 'Bremen' astilbe is unbothered by black walnut trees and the toxic juglone they produce, so you could even grow these pink-flowering shade plants under one of those tricky-to-landscape-around trees. That makes them a particularly useful choice when you're looking to add color to challenging areas where many other plants struggle.