Astilbe

Astilbe

“patience and devotion: 'I will still be waiting'”

Astilbe's soft, feathery plumes carry one of the more romantic messages in the language of flowers: 'I will still be waiting for you', a promise of patience and devotion to a loved one. A woodland plant native to Asia and North America, it earned the rather unfair common name false goat's beard. Its plumes bring a misty, textural quality that flatters fuller blooms, which is why it appears in so many wedding bouquets.

In season, and in the studio

Astilbe is in season May to August; it is not in the studio in September, and a bunch asked for it then is offered the nearest stem instead. In the studio's bunches it is a secondary flower, the supporting cast that gives a bunch its shape and rhythm around the focal stem. The studio buys it in blush and white, and at the bench each colour is read for its own meaning.

What each colour says

• Blushtender, patient love
• Whitedevoted innocence

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