Dicentra formosa

Description

The Pacific bleeding heart is a lovely plant with ferny-like foliage growing from fleshy rhizomes. The pink heart shaped dangling flowers appear in late spring and the gradual flowering lasts for a very, very long time!
While a native species of the Western coast, growing mostly in moist locations, it will also grow in rather dry locations like SW Ontario, just that it will go dormant at some point in the summer.

It spreads to form carpets with size depending on how much moisture it has (not a problem here). It is easy to remove though as the rhizomes are very shallow (almost sit atop the ground and break easily).

I consider it an essential species for the long tongue pollinators in the spring, although the flowers also provide nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds. In my garden it flowers at the same time with Lathyrus vernus and they are both very good ‘providers’.

Germination: the seeds need to be sowed fresh, with warm/cold stratification cycles. From dry, old seeds you will not get much germination. This subject is not often discussed because actually not many Dicentra species are grown from seeds.