Bleeding Hearts and Lovely Lockets
Bleeding Heart, Dicentra spectabilis, with its brilliant rosy-pink, heart-shaped flowers and handsome foliage is one of the sensations of the spring garden, and one of the best loved of all perennials. It is equalled in beauty by the white-flowered form, ‘Alba’, once a rare plant, now readily available. They are, however, very much spring flowering plants, retiring into the background when the summer comes. Happily, there are smaller Dicentra’s, especially the newer varieties among them, which continue right through the summer. Their flowers, in scale with the size of the plant, are smaller and daintier than those of the true Bleeding Heart, held over neat mounds of lacy, blue-green foliage. ‘King of Hearts’, with rose-pink lockets, the first of this series to appear, has proved to be a top class plant, recognised as such by the Royal Horticultural Society who have bestowed the coveted Award of Garden Merit on it.
More recently have arrived ‘Candy Hearts’, a deeper shade of rose and equally continuous flowering; and ‘Burning Hearts’, with intense silvery-blue leaves and deep red flowers – it is well-named! It is reputed to be grape-scented, though I have yet to catch this! These are real gems, easily grown in ordinary, well-drained, not too dry garden soil, in sun or light shade, ideal for the front of a border or in the light shade of a Japanese Maple.
1 comment
The summer brings out all the beautiful plants, and those Bleeding Hearts are a fine example. Thank you for sharing such a quality article, keep up the good work!