As of last week we started our plant of the week display in the garden centre. This is a plant that Sarah will be choosing with a brief summary of each plants fine attributes. So for each week, I shall also be adding a small blog piece.
Well as the title says this weeks choice is the Dicentra spectabilis (Bleeding Heart) or as it is also known Lamprocapnos spectabilis, Venus’s car, Lady in a bath, Dutchman’s trousers, or Lyre-flower.
This rhizomatous perennial plant is a popular ornamental for flower gardens and is also used in floristry as a cut flower for Valentine’s Day. It usually has red heart-shaped flowers with white tips which droop from arching flower stems in late spring and early summer. White-flowered forms are also cultivated.
We currently have two varieties in stock
Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Gold Heart’.’Gold Heart’ is a clump-forming, herbaceous perennial with divided, golden-yellow leaves and arching racemes of nodding, heart-shaped, rose-pink flowers in mid- to late spring.
Dicentra formosa (western, wild or Pacific bleeding heart). It is an herbaceous rhizomatous perennial growing to 45 cm (18 in) tall by 60 cm (24 in) wide, with deeply divided grey-green fern like leaves and racemes of nodding, deep pink flowers.
Have to say I think Sarah has made a nice choice here and the feedback on facebook and other social media platforms is that it is a firm favourite in the garden.