Any information on planting/using "Bleeding Heart" Dicentra?

I am readint that it is good to combine with foam flower , anyone know the reasons for this?





also how easy is it to plant and how quickly, easily does it grow?





how long does it bloom, etc?





Thanks for your answers!

Any information on planting/using "Bleeding Heart" Dicentra?
I planted my first one last spring. It spread quickly. Planted in the north side of the garden, shady area. Watered it regularly and it spread quickly. It is a spring blooming flower so it only blooms for a short time. It continued growing and stayed full until the first hard frost. I planted mine next to the bugbane which closely resembles the foam flower. It fit in quite well with my other shade loving plants like the varigated icedance grass and astilbe.





http://landscaping.about.com/od/perennia...





Mine did not bloom the first year.
Reply:We have two different strains of dicentra around our deck. It has been quite easy to grow. It requires partial sunlight to flower well (though it will grow in shade). We planted in the fall and had flowers the next spring, though the second year was much better. The blooms were on the plant for 2-3 weeks. The foliage then yellowed out after a month or two. As for the foam flower, I'm not sure. Ours are planted in front of Oak Leaf Hydrangeas and do fine there. We do keep them watered with a drip line.
Reply:Bleeding heart works well with most shade/partial shade plants.





I wouldn't try from seed, I would imagine it would take several seasons before it bloomed.





It might also look at "fern leaved" bleeding heart, its a cousin with very similar flowers but will continue blooming through out the year as long as its consistently watered.





Standard bleeding heart is a seasonal bloom. How much of winter as well as how much sun it gets seems to really effect when it blooms, but it usually early spring to mid summer. (My mother's in Northern Idaho bloomed in June/July, mine in Portland Oregon bloom in mid March/April). I find the blooms last a good 2-3 weeks.





I have mine planted in with hostas, ferns, Dragon's Tongue and Dutchman's breeches, another cousin to the bleeding heart.
Reply:Bleeding heart is a lovely plant and easy to grow, but I don't think I would try it from seed. It would be a long time before you had blooms. You can buy a small and inexpensive plant that will spread and grow quickly. I really never gave any of mine any special treatment beyond water and mulch. Bloom time depends alot on the weather and the light. The plant that got the most sun generally bloomed the longest in my garden. I've had the length of bloom vary from just a few weeks to as many as six. If the summer weather is very hot and dry the plant will die back. This doesn't harm it at all and it will be back bigger than ever in the spring. When it happened to me I would just fill the hole with a few impatiens or other annual. I think the reason foam flower is recommended is mainly because the two plants have similar growing requirements and they do look pretty together.