In mid-April I noticed one plant in my backyard growing like gangbusters. I thought it was an astilbe, but most of my other astilbes weren’t even poking out of the ground yet. But as the leaves developed further it finally dawned on me what it was—a division from my late grandmother’s Old-fashioned Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis).
I must’ve transplanted it last spring and forgot all about it. Wow is that plant ever happy in its new location. It’s spilling out in every direction, even covering established astilbes and daylilies. The first flowers appeared last week:
My sister gave me an original clump from my grandmother’s plant almost 10 years ago. I’ve divided it twice. The other two clumps aren’t as robust, but they get a lot more shade:
I love bleeding hearts. The little heart-shaped flowers are so pretty:
Old-fashioned Bleeding Hearts are bushy with ferny foliage. The plants grow 30-36 inches tall in shade or partial-shade. They appreciate protection from afternoon sun. In summer the plants go dormant and eventually disappear completely.
I’ve read that bleeding hearts make good cut flowers. I’ve never tried putting them in a vase, but I’m going to go out later this morning and clip a few stems and see what happens.