Astrantia major Burgundy Manor - Great Masterwort

Astrantia major Burgundy Manor is a large astrantia with beautiful umbels, like precious jewels of a ruby red colour, carried on burgundy stems above a compound green foliage of palmate leaves. This fabulous variety, with its long perpetual flowering, keeps its beautiful colour all summer. The flower's centre varies from pink to white-green and the bracts are finished with black tips, creating a subtle interplay of rich colours. This robust perennial is welcome in all styles of garden, and is also a good flower for both dried or fresh bouquets.

Astrantia major, native to central and eastern Europe, belongs to the Apiaceae family (formerly known as the umbellifers), and is a distant cousin of the carrot. It is an herbaceous plant, perennial from its stump, very hardy, deciduous, whose vegetation disappears in winter and regrows in spring. The bushy and loose habit serves the elegance of the flowering. The plant forms a clump 75 cm (30in) tall when in flower and 50 cm (20in) wide. The foliage is dense, composed of palmate leaves, with 5 deep lobes, lanceolate in shape, toothed, strongly veined and of a fairly dark green. The inflorescences of this plant are organised in umbels, which we call flowers. They appear from June to September, at the end of very stiff and ramified dark-coloured floral stems. Each one is composed of dozens of small ruby-red, burgundy flowers, surrounded by a collar-shaped involucre of large bracts of the same burgundy red washed with pale green.

Astrantia major 'Burgundy Manor' grows easily in fresh and well-drained soil in semi-shaded or even shaded sites in warm climates. Very popular in contemporary gardens, it requires little maintenance, thriving even where the garden is not maintained. It is particularly well adapted to a 'prairie' style mass planting, as its flowers, very complementary to ornamental grasses, bring texture. You can also create large country-style bouquets along herbaceous borders, and of course make pretty fresh or dried floral compositions. It combines perfectly with perennials (asters, peonies, delphiniums, campanulas, foxgloves) and roses in natural and/or romantic settings. Try this variety in contrast with orange flowers or chartreuse green foliage.

Tip: Mix several varieties of astrantias to create a beautiful palette in pink, white, and red.