Bleeding Hearts

I love Bleeding Hearts...the plants, not the people that is. When I was young, my mother's bleeding heart would always bloom for her birthday, which is May 6th. In New England everything bloomed much later than it does here in Western Oregon. I was fascinated by the heart-shaped flowers. 

In my garden now I have the white old-fashioned bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabalis 'Alba') which is just coming into bloom now. I also have two forms of our native bleeding heart: Dicentra formosa, pictured above, and 'Aurora' which is white. 

It naturalizes quickly, although it's not difficult to control, you will find yourself with a heck of a patch of it if you look away for too long! It spreads by runners and seeds, grows about 12-18" tall and enjoys part to full-shade. Hardy to USDA zones 3-9. 'Aurora' grows in full sun in my garden...well, the funny thing is that it's usually cloudy and rainy for many days through June, so the weather typically provides the correct cultural requirements! But this year, given this gorgeous weather, it might die back faster....which it does during the summer. Good to have plants underneath coming along for the rest of the summer.

Oregon Public Broadcasting made a one-minute video of our beautiful city under lockdown, with the voice of Governor Kate Brown talking about the restrictions she has imposed. If you're interested in seeing my city, check out this YouTube video here. It was announced this afternoon that the statistics are showing that Oregon has reached a plateau in new infections, and that it will be six more weeks until we start to see a decrease. Who knows if that's accurate, but it gave me a glimmer of hope.

Thank you all so much for your kind words and stars on yesterday's sunny tulip blip! Hope you are all well and bearing up!