Bleeding hearts

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

(Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro lens)

Bleeding Hearts bloom

Bleeding Hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis; formerly Dicentra spectabilis); photographed at Green Spring Gardens

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

Bleeding Hearts

Lovely Bleeding Hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis; formerly Dicentra spectabilis); rhizomatous perennial native to eastern Asia and Siberia south to Japan; also called old-fashioned bleed-heart, Lady in a bath, Dutchman’s trousers; photographed at Green Spring Gardens

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Bleeding Hearts at Brookside Gardens

Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra spectabilis)—I photographed this plant at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD on a photo trip with my friend Jeff in April 2008. I posted it as part of a collage for my original posting but decided today that it needs its own spotlight!

Something I didn’t know—it’s a member of the poppy family! This hardy perennial grows well in Zones 2-9 and blooms from April through June. It can do well in full sun or partial shade, although I mostly see it thriving in partial shade in woodland gardens. It has been grown for centuries in Korea, China and Japan. German botanist J.G. Gmelin first brought the plant to Russia for the botanical garden where he was employed. In 1947 Robert Fortune brought the plant to Western Europe through a sponsored trip by the Royal Horticulture Society.

I also learned the “bleeding heart story,” which I hadn’t heard before. I found this excerpt on www.veseys.com:

It is said that a prince loved a princess who took no notice of him. To try to get the princess’s attention and prove his love, he brought her exquisite and amazing gifts from far and wide. One day he came across two magical pink bunnies and offered them both to the princess. At this point, the story teller pulls off the two outer pink petals and sets each on it sides to show the animals. The princess was unmoved by the rabbits so, he tried again and presented her with beautiful dangly earrings. The next two inner white petals are separated and held up next to the narrator’s ears for display. Still, the princess paid him no attention. The prince was so distraught over being spurned that he took a dagger and stabbed himself. The remaining centre of the flower is shaped like an outline of a heart with a line down the centre. The heart is held up, the dagger-like line is removed, and the story teller plunges the “knife” through the heart’s centre. The princess, realizing too late that she did love the prince, cried out, “My heart shall bleed for my prince forever more!” and her heart bleeds to this day.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.