

Dutchman's breeches are perennial woodland wildflowers with nodding white blooms that grow best in moist soil, dappled shade, and a generous layer of leaf mold.
“Where flowers bloom so does hope,” believed Lady Bird Johnson. If the flowers in question are diminutive, delicate Dutchman’s breeches, you will find hope blooming in shade-dappled woodlands throughout the Northeast.
Dicentra cucullaria belongs to a family of North American native flower with ferny, lacy leaves and tiny, nodding flowers. (Their best-known cousin is the common bleeding heart, a native of Asia and recently stripped of its Dicentra affiliation and renamed Lamprocapnos spectabilis for horticultural reasons unknown to us.)
If you cultivate Dicentra as a ground cover (or as clumps of spring flowers), make sure you pick the right spot. Dicentra has a short season and will go dormant in summer, like other spring ephemerals such as Trillium, trout lilies, and Bluebell.
Plant them in a place of prominence where you can enjoy their brief season: “Because American bleeding hearts are so much smaller than the Asian ones, they can get lost in a busy woodland garden,” writes our UK correspondent Kendra Wilson. “This is especially the case with darker flowers such as D. formosa ‘Bacchanal’ (named after Bacchus, god of wine). Too much shade and they will not be noticed, before disappearing altogether. ”
v5.0
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Member benefits include:
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Subscriber benefits include:
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Subscriber benefits include:
Benefits include:
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Subscriber benefits include:
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Member benefits include:
If at any time you want to become a Subscriber and enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to all our content, just go to the My Account link and choose Subscribe.
Advertising funds our work at Gardenista and helps us provide you with a daily dose of garden inspiration & design. We hope you’ll consider disabling your adblocker for Gardenista so we can continue our mission: a well-designed garden for all.
Thank you for your support.