Heart Lantern Perenial? (It's Bleeding Heart)

[nes]

[img]https://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu269/knitness/Garden/DSC_0260.jpg[/img]
(ETA: don't know how I managed to bung that up! Here is the pic!)

I have this really neat little plant in my front yard from previous tenants & I have NO idea what it is.

What I do know:

- it's perennial in my area.
- actually quite hardy!*
- flowering in early may this year most years would be late may/early June

*It got trampled on when the guys were putting on our roof last year & I was sure it was lost for good since it completely disappeared . I was SO happy to see it back this spring!!!

Thanks!

[Kisal]

I'd love to see the picture!

Is it Chinese Lantern plant?

[img]https://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r131/telsingandrews/Garden2008/chineselantern.jpg[/img]

Or maybe Bleeding Heart?

[img]https://www.extension.iastate.edu/NR/rdonlyres/25CE40BE-8E23-4764-92ED-F2B8490907D6/74044/BleedingHeart32108.jpg[/img]

[nes]

Aha! Got word back from my husbands' mom's friend's daughter... (facebook) It is in fact Bleeding Heart! Dicentra spectabilis to be more exact .

[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicentra_spectabilis[/url]

A VERY neat little plant!!

[rainbowgardener]

I was going to say bleeding heart just from reading your title, before I saw anything else. It is a lovely little plant. It is spring ephemeral and so will die back by mid-summer ish whether stepped on or not, but come back next spring.

The wiki article lists these common names for it: (old-fashioned bleeding heart, Venus's car, Dutchman's trousers, or lyre flower)

Dutchman's trousers, usually known as Dutchman's breeches, is the native, unhybridized species, often known as native bleeding heart. It is a different species, dicentra cucullaria. It is much smaller and less showy.

[nes]

It got stepped on last spring before it flowered - I'm really pleasantly surprised it was okay! .

From what I've read these guys really don't require any special attention, but any suggestions to help this one get a little larger?

I think I'll give it some compost when I go to put the lavender into that bed.

[rainbowgardener]

I don't understand how you can grow lavender in the same bed with bleeding heart. The lavender likes full sun, lean, sandy, sort of alkaline soil. The bleeding heart likes part to mostly shade, rich, organic, sort of acid soil....

[Kisal]

RG, what you say is certainly true, but I have about 2 dozen lavender plants, both purple and some white, growing all over my yard. My soil is heavy clay and acidic. I guess lavender must be quite adaptable, because my plants are doing very well. Not blooming yet this year, of course. Still too early.

I think it's more important to provide a lean, alkaline soil for lavender if you want to extract the oils. My understanding is that the oils will have a stronger scent when the plant is grown under the harsher conditions. Just what I've heard, as I don't use my lavender for oils. I just enjoy the flowers and scent while I'm outdoors, and I dry a few sprigs of buds to use in sachets.

[nes]

RG - because I don't know why the bleeding heart is doing well where it is!!
But I have A LOT of weird plants growing in places they shouldn't. Last year I moved all my german bearded Irises from almost full-shade to sun; but they were probably growing well in the shade for YEARS.

I also have ground cherries growing in FULL shade.

Where the lavendar is going IS very sandy and gets about 3/4 day to all most FULL sun where the bleeding heart is.

That is very interesting to know about the bleeding heart though! Once it's done blooming & has gone dormant I will move it to the bed on the front of the house (FULL shade) and see if it gets bigger next year!!

[rainbowgardener]

Sounds like a great spot for the lavender and I don't know why the bleeding heart hasn't shrivelled up and died; but sometimes plants are tougher than we give them credit for!

[gardengrl3]

I have two bleeding heart plants that I have in the shade that are also covered with a piece of plastic so they don't get too much sun. Will they die off totally or will a portion of the plant remain? Should I leave the plant as is if it does die off so it will possibly return next spring?

[rainbowgardener]

It is a spring ephemeral that dies back in summer, but the roots stay alive and it will come back from the roots next year.

However, that's if the whole plant isn't killed (remember the definition of a perennial is a plant that had it lived, would have come back year after year ).

Bleeding heart likes part to mostly shade, but I don't quite understand the part about the plastic. Your plant is covered with a piece of plastic? Why? Can't the plastic be removed? It doesn't sound like likely a good thing for the plant.

Anyway, when the plant dies back, just leave it alone and with luck it will come back next year.

[Kisal]

... (remember the definition of a perennial is a plant that had it lived, would have come back year after year ).

Oh, yeah! I've grown those before!

[kammie]

I had a bleeding heart at my prevoius house that was in complete shade and protected from wind. When it was done blooming, it would continue to grow to the size of a small shrub and stay green until the killing frost.

In contrast, the one planted in full sun stayed very small, bloomed early, and died off before June.
[img]https://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad303/kammiez/DSCN2090.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad303/kammiez/DSCN2081.jpg[/img]