Bleeding Heart is a generous flowering bush and loyally returns every year. The clump of purple leaves belies the future green leaves.
Sunday just feels more relaxed. Maybe the years of training, maybe just habit but the world does sound quieter on Sundays.
Our usual 6 or 7 AM wake time seems NOT early enough… By the time I have done my bird watching, sitting with my first coffee, it is already 8:30 or sometimes 9:00. Then the days flies by. Pierre went to the flea market, came home with a very cute Christmas decoration, a 2.5 feet tall resin Christmas House that lights up and is decorated from top to bottom with all the Christmas related personalities. Cute!
Sandy Hardy stopped by with his good news of acquiring his uncle’s house on Mill Bay. It has a $2 Million view. Fortunately Pierre just finished his only obsession: Formula 1 races and could concentrate on Sandy’s excitement. That took us to 3:30 by the time we dissected all Sandy’s house needs and dispensed all our hard learned lessons from the few renos we’ve done in our lives and listened to what Sandy really wants, it was time to work in the garden.
The day was slightly more overcast than yesterday, but unbelievable warm, with barely a breeze. It was cool enough to feel fresh but warm enough to work all day outside in a short sleeve T-shirt.
It is so satisfying to spend a day in the garden or just anywhere in our outdoor space. If we could tackle the small weeds that were seeded last year or the large visible bad weeds now in the spring, summer is so much easier. My favorite tool from Lee Valley is the weed Torch.
Working in the spring is therapy for me. I like the physical challenge and do stretches and ab workouts while I garden. I can really feel that workout in my body each time, but the satisfaction never diminishes. Our whole life feels so much cleaner, more organized when the dead and broken garden debris are removed, the plants are divided and moved, sometimes eliminated. We feel we won control back into our life.
A wonderful perennial shrub that returns every spring with delicate hearts suspended on multiple branches filling a shaded space with color and light.
“Bleeding Heart” is available as a Fine Art Print; Click Category: FLOWER
17 days later:
In the above image of March 19th, we were welcoming back the bleeding heart plant as it emerged out of winter sleep. Look at how you’ve grown. That small clump (Lamprocapnos spectabilis) is now over two feel high and each branch is laden with buds. These will slowly open into heart-shaped pink flowers that dangle from long, arching stems. There is a small protruding white petal drop at the tip hence the “bleeding” in bleeding heart. In fact, the bleeding heart flower’s meaning is said to be about unrequited or rejected love, as well as love and romance.
The multiple branches will continue to grow from the base and the stems produce the hanging clusters of “hearts” opening one by one. It will light up the shade for almost two months. Not only is this plant generous with it’s flowers but when it has stopped producing, it may stay as a green structure in the garden if situated with proper moisture and shade, getting ready to reappear next spring.
Easy and self sufficient, bleeding heart will thrive and providing pleasure for years.
