Dicentra Species, Dutchman's Breeches, Butterfly Banners, Kitten Breeches, White Hearts

An elegant, charming, and easy native spring ephemeral for woodland conditions. I find it self-sows for me. It's hard to have too much....Read Morer />
Grows from a cluster of pink teardrop-shaped tubers that generally stick up above the soil surface. These can be separated while dormant to propagate, but will take several years to build up enough strength to bloom.

There are strains and varieties with pink-tinted flowers.

All flowers of this species have both male and female parts.

I ordered this from Prairie Moon Nursery a few years back. After I planted it, the squirrels dug it up and broke up the cluster of little...Read More bulbs or tubers that make up the root system. So for the next few years, I had single finely leaves sprouting up. Last year (2010) one plant was finally large enough to send up two leaves and a flowering stalk. This year (2011) four plants bloomed. I'm thinking after they go dormant, I'll try breaking apart one plant's root system and sowing the bulblets in a new spot to begin the process again.

Grows WILD, prolific as dandelions, or wild violet, on the edges and openings of our hardwoods (mostly maple). Appears early, and in the...Read More garden, it mixes well with bulbs. Great early groundcover, especially under shrubs, and anywhere otherwise would just be bare ground before garden plants start to sprout or shrubs leaf out. No care provided. Dies back (like bulbs): faster in sun, slower in shade; but by then the trillium are in bloom. Often what remains to be seen are clusters of little red "feet" about the size of tapioca pearls at the soils' surface. Easy to transplant from our vegetable garden area to perennial beds. Tilling the garden just seems to spread them the following year. A great spring perennial, and it didn't cost me a dime.

This little charmer is up now (4/7/09) and cannot wait to bloom. What is confusing about it is that it comes up in one place in one year...Read More & the next year, does not come up in the same place, but another place. As long as it comes up, that's all I ask.