Dark Side of the Moon Astilbe Flowers (Third Year) - July 2025

We have tree kinds of astilbes in our garden.  The original were Fanal with their red flowers.  I added a couple of bareroot Maggie Daley Astilbes a few years back.  And, most-recently, I've bought (in two different years) some dark-foliage Astilbes named Dark Side of the Moon.  I moved/transplanted them (6 total plants) to the 'nook garden' as part of an edit last year.  

They sort-of just *were* last year.  With the transplant stress coupled with a little bit of neglect and some weed pressure, I wasn't sure what to expect this Spring.  Would they come back?  Were they going to put on size?  

Turns out, all six came back.  Just like the Sun Kings.  And, for the first time a couple of them (not all six) have put up flower blooms.  Straight, rigid, dark purple stalks with tiny clusters of dots on top.  Below is a photo showing one of them:

One of the big items on my 2025 to-do list was to finish up the edits from last year.  This area needs a little attention planting-wise to complete that task.  Some groundcover (sedges, maybe?) and something to take the place of the Japanese Soft-Touch Holly - which...all three are gone.  

Note: Like a number of recent posts, this too is a 'later post'.  It is going up in early July, but this photo is from two-weeks-ago in mid/late June.