The History of the Bleeding Heart Plant

Bleeding hear is an old-fashioned perennial plant commonly found in cottage gardens. It is suited for shady areas and is found in hollows and forested depressions from Siberia to its native China.

Identification

• Bleeding heart forms a clump with lacy leaves that can grow 30 or more inches high. The flowers are heart shaped and primarily pink but also white or red. They hang suspended from the stem, which may carry a dozen or more blooms at one time. Bleeding heart dies back in fall and regrows bigger and taller the following year.

Meaning

• The bleeding heart or Valentine flower is known under several species names. The common bleeding heart is still known as Dicentra spectabilis. The taxonomy has changed and the species is now known as Lamprocapnos spectabilis, although you will see it commonly referred to as Dicentra. The name Dicentra comes from the Greek work two, "dis," and the word for spurs, "kentros."

Introduction to Cultivation

• The Royal Horticultural Society is an old group of plant lovers that historically explored and sought out new and unusual flora. In the 18th century, rare and unusual plants were being shipped to the UK from China and Japan. Robert Fortune was an explorer that was sent by the RHS to find and bring back Asian specimens. He is credited with introducing bleeding heart in 1847.

Dicentras Place in the Garden

• The informal herbal and perennial gardens of the Victorian era were perfect places for bleeding heart. They would lounge under elms, alders, maples or other shady trees. The traditional English cottage garden has also been a favorite planting place for the bleeding heart. The plant’s habit of blooming all summer with fall and winter dormancy, make it an important part of the warm season display.

Native Bleeding Heart

• Native Americans used the wild bleeding heart medicinally. Wild Dicentras carpeted forest floors in the Pacific Northwest. It was used as a tincture or compress to relieve pain. The wild plants are lower growing and smaller than Dicentras spectabilis, but are identical in foliage type and the classic heart shaped flowers.