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| I tried one new little plant this year...a bulb for bleeding heart.
But it has not done very well since I put it in the flower bed ( the same one where the irises live). I think it's getting too much sun. Should I move it now? Or wait till the fall? I think I know a good spot for it. Are there any other hardy, blooming perennials that do well in the Denver area in a fairly shady spot? Thanks! |
Here is a link that might be useful: bleeding heart
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Old fashioned bleeding hearts, Dicentra spectabilis—what you have—goes dormant in summer, so that’s probably at least part of the problem you’re having, but they do prefer shade or mostly shade, so if it’s in mostly sun, or very much hot midday sun, it’ll probably do better if you move it. Do you have a picture of it now? If it’s mostly dormant already—pretty yellow looking—you might want to wait till right after it’s done blooming next spring. If it still doesn’t look too bad, you could move it now, but then expect it to completely yellow and "go away" for the rest of the summer. May or may not get a little bit of foliage in fall, but probably not. If you move it now, water it in very well after transplanting it, and then just water it "normally" for the rest of the summer—that means water the same as you would for anything else planted in the area. If you move it now, be sure you mark where it’s planted so you don’t accidentally dig into it after it’s dormant—and don’t freak out when it immediately yellows and looks like it’s dying! Bleeding hearts are amazingly resilient things, and it’ll be back next spring—possibly TOO early, and the foliage and/or buds or flowers could freeze if we get a hard freeze after it puts in it’s appearance (covering works in all but the most extreme cold!) There isn’t a lot of COLOR for planting in shade, but there definitely are blooming things you can use. I don’t have a lot of time right now for detailed info, but a few of them are: Thalictrum, Aruncus/goatsbeard, Bergenia, Primula/primroses—lots of different types (some don’t like heat very much!), Heuchera/coral bells—both the ones with green leaves and "red" flowers and the ones with the beautifully colored foliage, Lamium (groundcover), saxifrage, Lewisia (mine are in too much sun!), Geraniums—the perennial ones—cranesbill, Digitalis/foxglove—common ones are biennial/short lived, most of the Campanulas can go with just a couple hours direct sun, same with most of the columbine, forget-me-nots, some lilies (oriental and a few others), Polemonium/Jacob’s ladder, Tiarella, Trollius, Brunnera/false forget-me-not. And then there’s a wonderful variety of colorful foliage and the different foliage sizes, textures, and heights of Hostas—they bloom, but mostly they’re grown for the great foliage. And ferns, while they don’t bloom, can add a wonderful dimension to shade gardens. I just scrolled thru a couple of my albums, and here are some of the things on the north side of my (2-story) house. Mid summer they get a little bit of very early morning and very late afternoon direct sun. If you want to know what something is, click on the picture and you’ll be able to see the caption—I think I only linked ones that are captioned! If you have any questions, let me know! Skybird
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| Oh my! Your flowers are incredible! Thank you so much. I'll take a picture of my little plant tomorrow. |
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| the first five photos in the attached link show my little plant and the place I'm looking at for a new flower bed. Thanks! |
Here is a link that might be useful: bleeding heart
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| There’s nothing at all wrong with your bleeding heart. It’s just starting to go dormant for the summer! Mine was yellower than yours, and I cut it all the way down to the ground a couple weeks ago. It’ll be back next spring, hopefully not too early! (The white cyclamen in the pictures above goes summer dormant too, and is "all gone" now! The flowers on that one will be back in full force sometime in September, and the foliage will join the flowers a couple weeks later!) If that’s the north side of the fence where you’re thinking of planting it, it should love it there. If you’re planning to get the area ready for planting before the bleeding heart turns much more yellow, you could move it now, or if the area won’t be ready for a while, you can just wait till a month or so after it’s done blooming next year. I don’t really recommend transplanting it when it’s all the way dormant because it’s harder to get the "crown" of the plant at the right depth when there’s no foliage to help you see what you’re doing. If you transplant it now, it will almost certainly turn completely yellow right after you do it. Don’t freak out, and don’t keep watering it trying to "help" it. Water it "normally," like I said above, and when the foliage is all the way yellow, just cut it off about an inch above the ground. If you don’t transplant it now, don’t overwater it trying to keep it from yellowing either! When it gets yellow to the point that you don’t like looking at it, cut it off! Mine’s in clay, so it really hasn’t gotten much bigger than when I put it in, but if you put yours in halfway decent soil, in a couple years you’ll have a BIG plant! Have fun, |
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| Ohh! Thanks so much! |
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| Hi B2, (Hope you don’t mind that! I can never remember the "Betty" when I see the "Alicia" in your screen name!) Bleeding hearts are one of the first perennials to bloom in spring, right after, or sometimes even with, the spring bulbs, so yours was probably just getting started in the pot at what would have been it’s normal blooming time if it had been outside all winter. This is mine in April of ‘08 (told you it was small!). It probably started to come up the end of March that year. Since they come up so early, you will need to stay alert to overnite temps once it’s up so you can cover it if it’s going much below freezing. Unlike the bulbs—tulips, daffodils, etc.—they really can’t handle below freezing temps very well, and the foliage, buds, and flowers can all freeze if it gets too cold. Frozen foliage just makes it look bad, but frozen buds or flowers means the end of the bloom for that year!
Leaving it where it is will get you a couple flower spikes next spring, and moving it after it blooms will probably give you about the same size plant in ‘12, and then it should get noticeably bigger every year after that if it’s in decent soil. They really are amazing things to see when they’re blooming, and well worth having to "tend to them" when the temps go down too low in spring. The wait will make next year’s bloom even more exciting for you! :-) |
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| B2 is just fine. :) Thanks so much for the info! Your little plant is darling. |
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