Beautiful bleeding hearts
May 06, 2011
While we were out and about plant buying the other day, I was delighted to see that the Fair Acres Farm nursery in New Jersey, which unfortunately had plants of variegated Japanese knotweed for sale, also had plants of all four forms of the bleeding heart, Dicentra spectabilis.
We already have the white, ‘Alba’, a simply beautiful plant which is a highlight of spring and which seeds itself around handily. Fair Acres Farm also had two others: ‘Gold Heart’ and the recently introduced ‘Valentine’. They had good specimens, we bought both (above, click to enlarge).
‘Gold Heart’ is a golden-leaved form of the species with the usual pink, heart-like lockets above foliage which for once really is more gold than the yellow coloring often seen in most plants with “gold” in their name. Spotted by Nori Pope at Hadspen House in Somerset back in 1993, its leaf color is at its richest in a little more shade than you might usually grow this plant.
Now, ‘Valentine’ (left, click to enlarge) is a stunner. Dusky red flowers, burgundy stems, slightly bronze-tinted green foliage. Gorgeous. I'm still having trouble tracking down its origins, though, so if anyone can help…
We decided against buying the ordinary form, which they also had, in the hope that these three others will cross with each other and produce something special - or at least interesting. This species tends to self-pollinate, though, so the chances are slim.
The note about pollination I found in a splendid book on these plants, Bleeding Hearts, Corydalis, and Their Relatives by Mark Tebbitt, Magnus Lidén, and Henrik Zetterland (Timber Press). With so many valuable spring plants in this group, this is a really useful book for gardeners with shade, where so many of the dicentras and corydalis belong.
It’s for the more dedicated gardener, I should say, but gives comprehensive descriptions and fascinating background as well as some excellent pictures. It really makes clear how valuable not only Dicentra, but more particularly Corydalis are in the spring garden, with many lovely forms discussed and illustrated.
This is also the place where the relatively recent break up of the genus Dicentra was brought to a wider world. Dicentra spectabilis, is now (gulp) Laprocapnos spectabilis. There are very good reasons, but it’s still unfortunate. I can hear the groans from all over the horticultural world…