Astrantia
Louise Smith
Posts: 3
Hi can anyone help please ? I gathered seed last year from my Astrantia and sown them straight into a seedling tray of compost and left them out in the open all winter . To my surprise they germinated and I have lots of little seedlings . The problem is I have transplanted some of them on into pots as an experiment to see if they would grow on but that was about 6 weeks ago and they are still the same size as the seedling plants in the seedling tray. They are still out in the open so maybe that's where I'm going wrong. Can anyone give me any advice please ? Many thanks Louise 
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Posts
You are not doing anything wrong. Transplanting them will have given them a bit of a shock, but they are clearly OK. Just be patient. They are not the world's fastest growers and will bulk up year after year with more and more flowers as time goes on.
Good stuff, a great plant.
They are slow, some friends gave me seedlings last year and they're still very small, there won't be flowers this year.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Nut, you may get a flower this year, but it may only be one! Then 2 or 3 next year and son on. Some form of mathematical gardening progression.
It would be good to see what colour they are WW.
They'll be late though. Those in the garden are in flower and not a hint from the babies
In the sticks near Peterborough
Woody - thought you might like to know the ones you gave me are surviving - lots of leaves but no flowers yet. They are labelled "Astrantia Woody" - which i will patent if they turn out to be stunners
Hey, WW
I've just been and had a look and I've got a flower bud
and I saw my first blue butterfly of the year
In the sticks near Peterborough
I wish I could stop mine growing. I get hundreds of them and have to hoe them every year. They've somehow spread from the front garden into my meadow at the back and theres' hundreds of them. I wish I could get all the native stuff to grow so easily into grass without all the faff of growing plugs. I'm sure they'll be fine Louise, they're well known for being prolific. I bought seed last year too, my OH thought I'd gone crazy, well, we only have Astrantia major, the species, so wanted some variety. Mine seem to have sat there doing nothing too.
Have you tried Astrantia maxima Jim? Not as showy as the major varieties but I like it
In the sticks near Peterborough
I bought one plant, it's only just started growing so I've not had the pleasure of seeing it in flower yet. But they look a beautiful colour. I couldn't do a Sissinghurst white garden.