i have not grown this specific one...

but i have had the plain old one for decades ...i dont know why they would be different ...

and yes .. they seem to disappear when the heat of summer arrives ...

and you need to mark the spot to you dont get some bright idea to plant bulbs there in fall .. been there.. done that.. lol ..

a pretty rock.. one foot to the north.. etc ... whirligigs dont work.. if you pull them out in fall for winter storage ... something permanent ...

dicentra is dicentra ... form of flower should not really change genetics of dormancy ... make sense??? .. but who knows.. i may be corrected

ken

I bought it new last year, but for most of the year it stayed in a pot until August when I was able to finally plant it. (And I'm hoping the B@$!@%d squirrels didn't dig it up over the winter! I see they've dug all over the place this year with the lack of snow cover and frozen ground.) It kept its leaves the whole summer, but I kept it watered and in shade. Bloomed for most of the summer as well, even for as little of a plant that it was. I hope it comes back, it's such a pretty little plant.

Here's a picture of the blooms from my plant:

{{gwi:196732}}

Karen

I don't grow this, but found comments at Paghat's Gardens on it where she has described her experience in the Pacific northwest. She comments that given adequate moisture (but not kept soggy) it will keep its leaves all summer.

In response to Ken, in my experience, Dicentra spectabilis goes dormant consistently, but the fern leafed varieties don't necessarily. They may slow blooming in hot weather, but here in my NH garden, Dicentra eximia blooms much of the gardening season and the foliage is present all summer. I also have an unknown white-flowered variety (maybe also D eximia) that keeps its leaves all summer but doesn't bloom quite as long.

Here is a link that might be useful: Burning Hearts at Paghat's Garden

hey babs ...

so the first thing OP ought to do.. besides relying on a common name/cultivar name .. is find the entire latin name.. and compare the latin between species and fern leaf.. and make presumptions based on such

presuming the latin differs, of course ...

ken

hi there,
I have regular D. spectabilis in my part shady border, and once established, they hardly go dormant at least in this cool, part shady spot with plenty of moisture. Probably they go dormant in order to avoid stress/ heat, but switch if the climate is friendly enough.
well then, it never gets boring with plants,

bye, Lin

hi there,
I have regular D. spectabilis in my part shady border, and once established, they hardly go dormant at least in this cool, part shady spot with plenty of moisture. Probably they go dormant in order to avoid stress/ heat, but switch if the climate is friendly enough.
well then, it never gets boring with plants,

bye, Lin

ken - the link nhbabs gives to Paghat's garden explains that 'Burning Hearts' is not a species - 'its primary parents appear to be the Japanese bleeding heart D. peregrina with its intensely blue-grey foliage & the western bleeding heart D. formosa, though like 'King of Hearts' with the same well-defined white lips, it likely also has a dash of eastern bleeding heart D. eximia in its heritage.'

So the name Burning Heart Bleeding Heart pretty much describes it. But it could be written as Dicentra x 'Burning Hearts'.

All Dicentras grow like weeds for me here except 'Burning Hearts' I have had two die, so far...All of the cultivars and species that are NOT spectabilis do not go summer dormant here.