Love, Sorrow and Hope in the Garden ... The Bleeding Heart

The language of flowers can be complicated: A rose is NOT necessarily a symbol of love or romance,  depending on its color in a bouquet. But then there are also blossoms or plants whose unique shape immediately conjure up memories or a sense of their “meaning” for us. This Memorial Day weekend, what better time to celebrate the unique presence Bleeding Heart in the garden. 

Dicentra spectabilis. This elegant spring shade-lover is a bit finicky getting started.  But once it is happily located, bleeding heart  seems to bloom on for generations.  Sometimes called “living valentines”, they get their name from their heart-shaped flowers which end in teardrop-shapes appendages. Multiple  hearts and tears droop side-by side downward toward the ground from  long, arching stems. The common garden variety is a two-tone shade of pinks and white, but there are also pure white bleeding hearts. Bleeding heart flowers have been compared to a string of lockets on a chair. 

To be called a “bleeding heart” isn’t necessarily a good thing. But there is nothing not-to-like about this beautiful resident of the spring garden. Like the peony and astilbe, bleeding heart's  delicate, notched sprays of leaves are striking in a bed long after the flowers themselves are bloomed out.      

STANDING INVITATION: send your favorite garden shot to THE WEEKLY NORTH FORK GARDEN PRIDE PHOTO CONTEST - Forward 6x4 inch, 300 dpi jpeg or jpegs in an email to agriainc@msn.com with your name, address and a caption for  your photo.