I'm also interested in knowing the conditions that you are growing them in and if you happen to remember the bloom time. I am also considering dividing my Astrantia and wonder if anyone has tried that.

I included this for the hosta peeps because its a great companion plant for hosta.

I really like the foliage and flowers but it needs a lot of moisture to stay good-looking. I moved some that were in too-dry conditions to another bed, but -- this is terrible -- I can't remember if I ended up finally shovel-pruning them late in the summer. Had "Vanilla Gorilla" at my other house that did very well and I liked the soft pink color of flower against the foliage, but the variegation in foliage became much less pronounced over the course of a couple years -- still a nice one, though.

I have a 3 plant clump of 'Ruby Wedding' in a part shade bed. We had a cooler than usual summer and it had a very long bloom season in response. Started in late June or early July and was still going well into September.

I have had an astrantia or two in all my gardens for as long as I can remember. Like delphiniums, I think this plant does best in cool summer areas. It's a natural for the PNW!

peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada I love that garden picture; it is beautiful. Thanks for posting. I will put Lars as a possible red on my list. I googled Ruby Clouds too and didn't find a good source for it.

mxk3 Good to know about the moisture. I am a hostaphile so I have to water anyways. I've had that one specimen of Star of a Billion for 3 summers in what is one of my dryer spots of my hosta beds and it has done OK. However, it didn't bloom "all summer," probably moisture.

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) I envy the PNW folks. Your rain and cloudy days allow you to grow many things well that barely survive here. I also grow delphenium, Pink Punch, but they always flop over the first windy day :( I will have to divide next year as they are 4 years old - we will see what happens.

FWIW I specifically concur with mxk3 and 'gg'. Without consistent moisture my astrantia look quite poor. And more or less for my location the trend has been less rain during the growing season and so this past summer I somewhat regretfully removed most of these plants to make room for less water needy perennials. (This was true for astible and ligularia previously :( ).

rouge21_gw (CDN Z6a) Were your astrantia growing in sun or shade? I have 5 kinds of astilbe growing well with folliage that holds up all summer. I had another variety of astilbe that didn't hold up; I threw out. I wouldn't try a liguilaria, not wet enough in my yard. My Astrantia Star of a Billion is in afternoon shade, about 2pm on. It seems happy. I wonder if the variety matters.

I have Ruby Wedding (I think). . It is planted on the north side of our house, about 15 feet away. It gets morning sun only. It is on the outer edge of a grouping of Spruce, which shades them from noon onwards in the summer. Even though there is a grouping of Spruce (30 foot tall, lower branches dead and removed up to 7 feet) the area is damp. I think the clump was about 4 years old and about 1 1/2 foot circumference, when I thought I would divide it. That was 2 years ago. They survived. I find them very slow growing where I am (Muskoka, Ontario 5a/b), but I’m sure they’d be happier with a bit more sun...They are beautiful. I have them right by my seating area so I can appreciate them close up.

Have this in a bed that gets afternoon sun with some of my hostas. I water every day. They are shaded by Spruce trees.