Today In the Garden - ONCE UPON A CONEFLOWER

Bleeding Heart, Plant of Love and Remembrance

Bleeding Heart (Lamprocapnos, formerly Dicentra) never fails to enchant us each spring with strings of little heart-shaped flowers, dangling like so many lockets on a vintage charm bracelet.

If you don’t already grow one of these beauties, maybe now’s the time. Planting a bleeding heart is a lovely way to honor someone’s memory if you’ve recently lost a loved one, or a pet. Perhaps you just enjoy romantic and nostalgic things. Long lived and totally carefree, bleeding hearts unfurl their charms each spring to delight us for a few brief weeks, then softly fade away.

The Aromatics: Salvia, Mint, Bee Balm and Lavender

Salvia and catmint provide vibrant color in the spring garden

There’s nothing quite like the sages (Salvia) and catmints (Nepeta) for bushy, vibrant spires of rich purples and lavenders in late spring. Beebalm, lavender and agastache follow up, with the latter going right into fall. Aromatics are among the easiest and most trouble-free of all perennials to grow, in part due to their menthol-like aromas which keep many pests at bay.

Attracting Bluebirds

Who doesn’t love the sight of bluebirds? There is something oddly reassuring about their cheery presence, a feeling that all’s right with the world (although that’s clearly an illusion these days). When bluebirds start house-hunting in earnest in late winter, usually late February, Spring is never far behind. That thought alone is uplifting.

Bluebirds, members of the thrush family, were once common in Pennsylvania orchards and homesteads. Their numbers suffered a steep decline when English sparrows and starlings begn pushing them out in the last century, along with DDT use in the 1950’s. Fortunately their numbers have been increasing slowly but steadily in recent years. They are now making a modest comeback in semi-rural and suburban areas, thanks to numerous efforts by nonprofits, homeowners and community nest box programs.

If your property has an open patch of yard free of disruptive elements, there are a few things you can do to try and lure them in.