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Dicentra

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Bunny ...
20/03/2013 at 14:53
I have my dicentra in shade , it was a new plant last year and just seems to struggle where it is , as I have heavy clay I am wondering if that is the problem , the shade or possibly the wind we get near it ? Any thoughts ? Leave , move it , help it .....
nutcutlet
20/03/2013 at 15:07

Which dicentra Bunny?. Most of them like a bit of shade. Might be the heavy clay though

Bunny ...
20/03/2013 at 15:11

The bleeding heart one .

nutcutlet
20/03/2013 at 15:15

They have very soft fleshy roots, maybe the clay is a bit hard going. I don't do all that well with these, my soil isn't exactly clay but it's stiff. The smaller dicentras do much better.

artjak
20/03/2013 at 15:29

I've had a dicentra for years in a pot in fairly deep shade and it grows ok, it is in compost.

Bunny ...
20/03/2013 at 15:38
Right, I took cutting as thought lost it last yr , cutting doing better than plant . Must be the heavy clay where it is . I shall await a slightly warmer day brrrrr out there today and move to a pot . Thank you .
Deano's "Diggin It"
20/03/2013 at 15:47

Bunny, it,s sounds like ya soil to me, I'd dig it up and stick it in a pot till you can inprove the soil.

Here's one I dug out of my late Parents garden,(besides a few other things)

I bunged it in a pot and it flowered it's socks off last year.

http://s4.gardenersworld.com/uploads/images/original/20205.jpg?width=640&height=350&mode=max

 

 

Bunny ...
20/03/2013 at 15:49
That's the one dean . My mum has same one and does great in hers now I think about it....not clay soil. It's by pond and a wall so tricky area . A plan is in place for some nurturing and a new home further over
Busy-Lizzie
20/03/2013 at 22:02

I have a dicentra in shade in clay but before planting it some years ago I dug in loads of compost and manure and it's thriving. Can you dig it up and improve the soil and replant?

Bunny ...
20/03/2013 at 22:09
It's such a funny place Liz , retaining wall with field drain after it , fence, wind up 'back passage' shade ...
Busy-Lizzie
20/03/2013 at 22:12

Oh no, shock horror, not another back passage!!!

Bunny ...
20/03/2013 at 22:14
***snorting*** I shall take piccie of the sad specimen and where it is tomorrow ......and back passage if ya play your cards right
Verdun
20/03/2013 at 22:48
Dicentra spectabilis likes shade, nutrition, good soil and not being disturbed. I grow mine in my hellebore borders as I think they like same conditions. They make good companions too...as hellebores pass their peak the dicentras take over.
Bunny, one year is bit soon to decide what to do....dicentras have yet to show for this year. Yours may be good ths year.
However, if mine and it struggles again, I would dig it up carefully....it has fleshy spreading roots.....and replant in soil that has been enriched with mushroom compost, manure, garden compost. If very wet add some grit.
I have one growing too in the sun but soil is good, hearty and nutritious and it does just as well there.
Bunny ...
20/03/2013 at 22:53
As I'm on a slope Verdun soil tends to run off into field drains ( field and forests drain into us) , it is with hellebores and they're happy, but they do get slight morning sun, it doesnt . I have never manured any part of my garden but shall be moving it soon .
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