Which way up do I plant Pink Bleeding Heart?

These are actually Dicentra Spectabilis Alba but J Parkers where I got them says it is a white version of the pink bleeding heart.

When I first went to plant them I thought they looked a bit like the bare roses so lots of branches and some roots so they must go branches up. The branches were soft and flexible though and it wasn't until i'd actually planted them that I thought maybe they are the roots?

There are some little shoots which would indicate the 'branches' are the roots since otherwise they would be growing down but I wanted some-one to confirm which way up/down to put them - also should they be buried under the surface a long way like a bulb?

Are these tubers?

 

Hi men8ifr,
Dicentra die back completely underground in winter, so those 'stems' are definitely roots. I would look for a crown, a tight bud in the centre of the root bundle and that would be the top. The underside would be just all root. Bury the whole thing, spreading out the roots, so that the crown is about an inch below the surface.
Hope that makes sense. Good luck.

 

Yes thanks that makes perfect sense!

 

men8ifr

I found both the pink and the white versions of dicentra in my new house's garden when I moved in. I decided to transplant them because they didn't seem to be happy in the driest, flintiest part of the garden. When I dug them up, the poor little devils looked like a cross between a dahlia tuber and a stem of root ginger! I transplanted them to a damper, shadier location and gave them lots of organic matter and chicken pellets.

What a difference! They came up in spectacular form last summer and really repaid my efforts. They have such beautiful flowers and so different in shape from most others.

Good luck with them.

 

If you plant bleeding hearts upside down all the blood rushes to their heads! :D

 

Yea,
Then its bleeding heads not hearts.
:D
:D
G.man

 

If you are ever in doubt about which way up a plant or a bulb should be, you can always plant it on its side, and let nature sort it out.

 

Dam good answer that Peter.

 

Thanks Roders

 

I always find that even if plants die down for winter when you buy them from places like wooly's (although not anymore...) they have started to grow shoots...

 

The perennials I bought from B&Q (there's a post here about them) got planted out in pots this weekend and most of them had shoots appearing.