LEWISTON, Minn. – The bleeding hearts bringing delight to Winona flower beds are hardly native. The profusely flowering perennial arrived in England from Asia in 1810 but didn’t get much established. In 1846, however, members of the Royal Horticultural Society brought samples back from Japan. With the Society’s endorsement, the sturdy plant with dainty fuschsia-like blossoms hecame a garden favorite in Britain and eventually America.
Dicentra spectabilis. That’s what experts call them, but to everyone else they’re bleeding hearts. Image: Steve Lunde