If Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra) ever have a bad angle, I’ve yet to see it. These graceful, low maintenance shade garden perennials are always a welcome sight. I don’t fertilize, provide winter or deer protection, yet they return and increase slowly each year until they form a stately presence in the garden.                                                                 As the weather warms, Dicentras tend to decline, but a hole in the garden is an opportunity, not a disaster. I, for one,  appreciate an excuse to make a trip to the garden center to see what’s on sale.  You never know what gems you’ll find once the crowds of May have died down!

So if you’re looking for a plant to form the backbone of a spring display, look no further than Bleeding Hearts. Their graceful beauty will raise you spirits every time you venture into the garden.  And isn’t that a good thing?