Bleeding Hearts

I know a bleeding-heart plant that has thrived

for sixty years if not more, and has never

missed a spring without rising and spreading

itself into a grassy bush, with many small red

hearts dangling. Don't you think that deserves

a little thought? The woman who planted it

has been gone for a long time, and everyone

who saw it in that time has also died or moved

away and so, like so many stories, this one can't

get finished properly. Most things that are

important, have you noticed, lack a certain

neatness. More delicious, anyway is to

remember my grandmother's pleasure when

the dissolve of winter was over and the green

knobs appeared and began to rise, and to cre-

ate their many hearts. One would say she was

a simple woman, made happy by simple

things. I think this was true. And more than

once, in my long life, I have wished to be her.

~Mary Oliver

I have always loved this poem by Mary Oliver because, yes, I believe the long-lived bleeding heart deserves a little thought.  While mine has not lived for 60 years, it has not missed a spring for at least 25 years and it continues to rise and spread. There's something comforting about these plants that live for such a long time. I have to laugh because I started to say that this is one of my favorite flowers and I realized that I say that a lot, and that I have a lot of favorite flowers! But I guess that's why I have a gardening blog.  I have several varieties of bleeding heart in my garden, my favorite being the old fashioned Dicentra Spectabilis, shown above and below. This one is very long-lived and it also re-seeds, so now I have several other plants around the garden. Another variety of bleeding heart I have is Dicentra eximia, or fringed bleeding heart, which is much smaller and has the fringed foliage. This one blooms pretty much all summer, can take our summer heat,  and it re-seeds like crazy. When the flowers have dried, I pull them off the stems with my fingers and throw them around the garden and I usually end up with more plants.

Dicentra spectabilis

Dicentra eximia

Dicentra eximia

A few years ago Eileen and I both purchased Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart' up in Lancaster County. I think we paid almost $20 for them, which is pretty extravagant, but we were in love with the lime green foliage. I don't think it is quite as strong as the old fashioned bleeding heart,  but it has done well. All the bleeding hearts except the fringed bleeding heart die down by the middle of the summer, so I have mine planted near hostas, which take over by mid-summer.

Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart'