I have three two year old bleeding hearts in my small garden. They
are HUGE! I have cut them back but they grow like weeds. Also, though
they grow rapidly, they are "leggy - thin - not bushy" and bloom
sparcely. What can I do to reduce the spread, "bush" them up a
little, and increase the blooms? PS - These are the bloom all summer
kind. Thanks.

In article ,
(Jill) wrote:

I have three two year old bleeding hearts in my small garden. They
are HUGE! I have cut them back but they grow like weeds. Also, though
they grow rapidly, they are "leggy - thin - not bushy" and bloom
sparcely. What can I do to reduce the spread, "bush" them up a
little, and increase the blooms? PS - These are the bloom all summer
kind. Thanks.

Older clumps are not apt ever to stop being big, it is simply a big
perennial, & what seemed nice & little for year one is never thereafter
going to be little. Generally not leggy though, more like fountaining; &
they generally bloom long & very much. Perhaps you have them in too much
shade? They do like shade, but there are limits. I've never had one get
leggy so I'm just guessing.

It could well be that since your garden is small, this is just never going
to be the right bleeding heart, as it is not only big, but it can smother
smaller plants. I had to move one out of a narrow corridor for this
reason, & it now has full reign of an area underneath some very tall (8
foot) huckleberries & a big Oyama magnolia. I replaced it in the narrow
garden with Dicentra eximia & Dicentra formosa, the Eastern and Western
bleeding hearts respectively, which stay small & bushy & flower spring
through fall. I have white ones & red ones.

The heart-lockets are narrower on these & look a bit like fancy bloomer
undies, so the giant Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart is still a favorite for
fat heart-lockets, but only in locations where it is okay to be big. I
have three of these large clumps, a White Bleeding Heart, regular Pink
one, & added this year the Golden Bleeding Heart which has bright
lime-green nearly yellow leaves. Anyone who shares my fondness for
bleeding hearts will also like corydalis species, which include flowers
shaped like pants, like pollywogs, & other odd shapes.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

Sounds like they need to be divided. Mine, too, were taking on immense
proportions and flowering less and less. Most perennials profit greatly from
division every 3 or 4 years. Good luck with one of my favorite flowers!