Bleeding Heart Question?

My mother in law gave me a pot last fall filled with bleeding hearts. I stuck it in the garage and they are coming up in very little soil. The stems are pale pink/whitish and it seems to me that they should actually be underground and were above the soil only because of the lack of soil in the pot. Am I correct in thinking this? Should the leaves just be above the soil line?

Bleeding Heart Question?
I love bleeding hearts. They are one of my favorite late spring plants. Mine are coming up now.You should plant them outside in a partly shaded area.Don't cover the stems.(What you are seeing) The roots will go deeper on their own.And the shoots you see don't look like the plant when it is in bloom. They remind me of celery hearts.Purple ones are red flowers and light green ones are white flowers.
Reply:Go to your favorite garden store and buy a new container, soil and fertilizer, come home and fill the pot with soil add some fertilizer[timed release type] plant the Bleeding Heart with the soil covering the top of the root system, and water it in, put it in spot with morning sun, afternoon shade, and enjoy this beautiful plant this year and do the same thing you did last year when the weather gets cold. Every year your container will need to be bigger than the year before, say if you have a 4" root system, bump up your pot to a 12" hanging basket, take the basket in over the winter, bump it up to an urn type planter the next year, if your winters are mild, say 7 1/2 to 8 zones you can probably plant it in the ground and add more mulch over the winter months, and as it gets warmer remove layers of mulch and let the sun start doing its thing and you won't have to pot and re-pot every year. Hope I helped, sorry I went so long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Planting
Reply:Don't bury the stems. They are pale.





Bleeding Hearts are propagated from seeds, division of the roots or from young shoots which start from the soil. Roots can be taken carefully by digging a section of the plant from a mature plant, cutting through one side. These shoots or the roots should be divided just before they start growth. It should be planted in an area where trees or roots of other plants will not compete for moisture or nutrients. Best growth is obtained when plants are spaced 2 feet apart and if planted in rows, space rows 3 feet apart. The pH can range from 6.0-7.5 and feed lightly, 5-10-5 commercial fertilizer. The plant takes 2 years to mature and grows to an average of 2 to 3 feet long.