Astrantia

I have been looking for some astrantia seeds at the garden centres, and can't seem to find any. Yet I notice on the BBC Gardening website that it say astrantia seeds should be sown now.

Has anyone seen any? I also noticed that you can buy perennial plants, would they be available in nurseries at this time of year?

I don't know much about them but they really look beautiful.

 

You can buy them online.

I just happened to buy mine from Chiltern Seeds but I presume loads of online sites do them.

 

I got mine from Chitern seeds,very quick delivery

 

The plants aren't in any garden centres yet as they're only just starting to emerge after winter. I know, as I have one in the garden but am looking for more and don't want to resort to online ordering.

They're beautiful plants and ideal for the dappled shade parts of the garden. Plant them en masse for a great show.

 

They are lovely plants and very long flowering. You can easily get seed, but there is an advantage of buying plants, in that you can get named varieties. I have three distinct varieties - 'Hadspen Blood' a very dark red, 'Rome' a pink and 'Buckland' a white. After a year or two you can divide them to give several plants.

 

Agreed, I planted a Roma last year and already the re emerging shoots look a lot bigger than the original plant so I'm hoping for a good show.

On the look out for a Hadspen Blood or three for a special location in the garden.

Oh yes, they also seem to be slug resistant - always a bonus!

 

There are some perennial astrantia plants on eBay... would you trust buying on there?

Also saw some bare root ones on a website this evening? Not sure if that's a good way to buy?

 

Hmmm. I've bought plants on eBay before but not all of them survived. Perhaps buy several as they'll be quite small.

As for bare rooted - are they those boxed 'plants' for sale everywhere now? The ones with a bit of the root and crown in a bag of dry compost? If so, beware. I was caught out with them last year; thinking they were a bargain, I got quite a few different ones and only this year are they showing any promise and they're still smaller than others bought at the same time but as proper plants. Hope that makes sense? I feel that these 'plants' are sitting in plastic bags in the box for a long time so many of them are either dead or very dried out.

Better to stick to living plants. Check out Crocus, they have them for sale there, although not cheap.

 

Perfect sense Aaron, as always!

Supposing I sewed from seed at end of the month, would I have a good show this summer?

 

That I can't say, sorry. I'd buy plants instead but then I'm impatient.

 

Me too! But budget dictates :(

 

I might be wrong Victoria, but if I remember rightly Astrantia is tricky to germinate from bought seed.They have a long germination period and probably need a winter or time in the fridge.
However if you have a plant they will self sow themselves into the gravel on the paths all round themselves. Well that's what mine did.
I would wait until the garden centres get their perennial plants in and buy 1. They come in various shades from near white through to near red. That plant will seed and multiply for you.
It is a truly worthwhile plant earning its space. The leaves come early and are attractive.
If you like plants jumbled together it looks wonderful with Knautia growing through it.
Astrantia doesn't need staked but Knautia does. The Astrantia provides the stake the Knautia needs.