Quick Guide: spring/summer, hardy, semi-shade, height: 45-60cm/18-24in, width: 45cm/18in

Dicentras make excellent plants for the border, and by growing two or three different species you can be assured of flowers from spring to late summer. All have fern-like foliage and slender stems bearing nodding flowers of white, pale pink or rose red.

GROWING Set out young plants from autumn to early spring, taking great care not to damage the fragile roots. Soil should be moisture-retentive but well-drained and, for best results, rich in humus. Apply a mulch of well-rotted organic matter each spring.

PROPAGATION Divide established plants between autumn and spring, or take root cuttings 7.5cm/3in long in early spring. Insert in a peat/sand mixture in a cold frame. When the young leaves are well formed, transfer to a nursery bed and grow on until transplanting to the permanent site in autumn.

SPECIES D. formosa, large clusters of pink, white or red flowers, early summer; D. spectabilis (bleeding heart), arching stems of rose flowers in summer - `Alba' (above) is a white form; D. eximia, only 30cm/12in high, rose pink or white flowers right through summer.

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS Generally trouble-free.