The economies of the world are waiting for a sign of the green shoots of recovery. This Dicentra plant shows that not all good things are green and I love to seek out red shoots amongst my plants.
Other notable red shoots come from the herbaceous Peonies and from Rhubarb plants but back to the Dicentra family or bleeding heart for a moment. The plants are easy to grow and reliable perennials whose clump grows each year. They resent disturbance so are hard to split for propagation but root cuttings are not too hard to strike.
Dicentra Varieties to Try Growing
- Dicentra spectabilis is the variety above that will flower with dark pink heart shaped flowers. There is also a white version sold under the unsurprising name of Alba.
- Dicentra formosa has cherry-red hearts that dangle like lockets on arching stems above mounds of fern like foliage. Also nicknamed Dutchmans Breeches.
- Bulb forming Dicentra cucullaria and Dicentra canadensis are cream or white in flower but retain the distinctive Dicentra fern like foliage.
- Dicentra scandens is a yellow flowered climbing species that I not found to be hardy.
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