Question
Hello!, I'm a fellow New Yorker. I am in the 4 and 5 zones  though. My Mother and I have a garden. In fact we sell perennials during the summer. Our garden is absolutely beautiful. But anyways. We have a plant My mother calls An Astilbe. I know I will spell this wrong, But here goes anyways. It's an Astilbicide Tubularis....Hah. Sorry for any confusion. But I really don't know anything about the plant and there is nothing in out books. I think I have looked through ever one of the 442,000 sites google offers. Still Nothing. But I would appreciate a little information on such a plant. Have a good one!

Crys

Answer
Hello, Crystal -- The Allexperts Computer informs me you did not receive the answer I posted earlier.  So I am resending it and I hope you get it soon.

One little detail I think that gets lost in the sauce here is that it seems to me that your Mother is right about this plant.  It IS an Astilbe.  Known to Latin-speaking botanists as... well, you read the answer below.

Best regards and thank you for visiting The Long Island Gardener!
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Astilbiside Tubularis.. Astbile Tstlibeoidsis... Astreoisu Tscoiusreis?  Yikes.

First the good news.

If you copy   www.bjorsby.se/justnu.aspx?NEW_ID=22  you will arrive at a gardening website for Bjorsby handelstradgaard (www.bjorsby.se/), a gardening retailer in  Lulea, Sweden.  They sell a perennial called   Parasollblad Astilboides tubularis.  

It is called Astilboides tabularis (slight spelling var.) Parasollblad at another website.  

Now the bad news.

It's all in Swedish.

Further bad news: The USDA does not list any such animal vegetable or mineral with anything that comes CLOSE to the spelling of your plant.  Obviously they are incomplete.  I guess these plants are really loving it in Sweden.  

OK.  Now the really good news.  Boy this is your lucky day.

Since IT is a Perennial, YOU CAN DIVIDE IT!  and make more!!!

You divide ITs just like a Hostas.

Go out on a beautiful autumn morning with a shovel and a steak knife.  Prepare 3 nice new holes to house your IT.  Include a nice dose of bonemeal to get the roots off to a good start (NO Nitrogen!).  

Now dig IT up with as much of the roots as possible and cut into four equal parts.  Put bonemeal in the hole you just removed IT from.  Now you are ready to plant.

Water well.  Mulch after the first frost.  Keep trying to figure out what IT is.  We are all going to be waiting for that answer!

I wish I could give you The Ultimate Answer here, Cris.  But before the weekend descends, and we're all pre-occupied, I want to save you from spending any more time on this and maybe one of your family members takes Swedish and can translate over there.  Even I would like to know what we're calling this plant in the US.  

Please send photos of your garden, Cris.  I am always keenly interested in other people's gardens.  Best regards frm Long Island, NY, USA.