I've got an Astrantia that has seeded itself between the stones edging the rear edge of my south facing border. Been there a couple of years now, looks very happy and gets lots of sun. It may get somewhat less this year,. as I have had a major re-jig, but there is nothing that will shade it out unduly. The ground is fairly dry clay/loam and well drained.
My beef with Astrantias is that the others I have include Roma, which all photos show as a pretty pink and all of mine are either white or a grubby looking grey with a few pinkish stamens They are in a fairly shady place. I wonder if they would colour up better with more sun or if the pictures are just lying?
Oh, and Alchemilla grows and seeds itself everywhere here, no matter what the conditions. I've even got the pretty, wild one with smaller leaves and flowers!
When I first bought astrantia 'Roma' it behaved as expected -- pink flowers with a deeper centre. Over time it began to disappoint, looking as you describe @Buttercupdays, almost colourless. Last year in a dry heatwave it was very pronounced and I was going to scrap them all (divisions of the original) but when the rain eventually came, and cooler temperatures, they turned to that original good pink! I am trying them in cooler shadier places this year in the hope of getting pink flowers again. I don't think it was the lack of rain that they didn't like, but perhaps the very hot sun. Yet you grow them in shade and have lost the colour......it's a puzzle.
Alstroemeria. I have 2 plants that are about 5 years old. One has very slowly grown and flowered for the last 2 years, the other, near it, still hasn't flowered. In another area, I planted a third which has not really grown very much at all. Never flowered. I bought 3 pots of another variety last year, they grew away really well until recently when they were badly frosted, fingers crossed they will survive. They are still in pots, I think I will try planting one pot of them in the garden to find the best location for them. The new ones are lavender which I have hankered after for a long time. I want to check the colour before committing them to their final growing space.
Astrantias grow like thugs in my garden. I have spent the last 3 years trying to get rid of them, they seed everywhere. The red one seems to have disappeared but the white one is more determined.
Alchemilla likewise, I have to make sure I remove the dead flowers before they seed or I have a garden full of them.
Viburnum bonariensis is another invasive plant in my garden. It sows itself everywhere, I usually leave seedlings where they are for a year and then transplant them to where I want them to grow.
I will persevere with an ailing plant for two or three years if I really treasure it, especially shrubs. I have regretfully given up on daphnes because they are so expensive. I have winter flowering honeysuckle and Christmas Box instead.
I can't get rid of alchemila mollis and I can't grow astrantia.
I have AM popping up where I never planted it. I also lost a dark maroon Astrantia after buying that and a pale one. Now I find astrantia popping up all over the place. My biggest regret is not being able to grow Echinacaea ... I love them, buy them, plant them... never to be seen again.
No-one knows if you have done your house-work, but everyone knows is you haven't done your gardening
Echinacea are notorious for many people, often only performing as annuals. Some of the newer hybrids are particularly bad. The problem tends to be our wet winters. Where they come from, in the American prairies, hey are often covered with snow, which keeps them dry.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
I so hope my astrantias grow like weeds! I bought Roma and a couple of Venices. Tbh they don't seem to have done anything since I planted them, but nor are they dead yet. Where there's life, there's etc.
Verbena bonariensis don't reseed for me, hence their seeds clogging up precious propagator again now. I am impatient for the damn things to sprout so I can crack on with zinnias already.
But poppies? I could start an opium empire.
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This morning, I was going to uproot and bin a foot-high camellia bush that has barely grown, and has been looking chlorotic and sad since I planted it here two years ago, before this was my garden. Turns out there's lime down there somewhere. But! Miracle of miracles, I plucked off a manky leaf and there's a beautiful pink bud just opening underneath. It's definitely never flowered before and I can't bin it now. Going to water it well and pot up in acidic compost and pray.🙏
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Last year in a dry heatwave it was very pronounced and I was going to scrap them all (divisions of the original) but when the rain eventually came, and cooler temperatures, they turned to that original good pink!
I am trying them in cooler shadier places this year in the hope of getting pink flowers again.
I don't think it was the lack of rain that they didn't like, but perhaps the very hot sun.
Yet you grow them in shade and have lost the colour......it's a puzzle.
I bought 3 pots of another variety last year, they grew away really well until recently when they were badly frosted, fingers crossed they will survive. They are still in pots, I think I will try planting one pot of them in the garden to find the best location for them. The new ones are lavender which I have hankered after for a long time. I want to check the colour before committing them to their final growing space.
Astrantias grow like thugs in my garden. I have spent the last 3 years trying to get rid of them, they seed everywhere. The red one seems to have disappeared but the white one is more determined.
Alchemilla likewise, I have to make sure I remove the dead flowers before they seed or I have a garden full of them.
Viburnum bonariensis is another invasive plant in my garden. It sows itself everywhere, I usually leave seedlings where they are for a year and then transplant them to where I want them to grow.
I will persevere with an ailing plant for two or three years if I really treasure it, especially shrubs. I have regretfully given up on daphnes because they are so expensive. I have winter flowering honeysuckle and Christmas Box instead.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
I also lost a dark maroon Astrantia after buying that and a pale one. Now I find astrantia popping up all over the place.
My biggest regret is not being able to grow Echinacaea ... I love them, buy them, plant them... never to be seen again.
The problem tends to be our wet winters. Where they come from, in the American prairies, hey are often covered with snow, which keeps them dry.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border