I have a nice bleeding heart that grew from seeds I threw on the ground. I had given up on the jug.

:)

I never could see them ripen. But I always find seedlings in the garden...some of them even grew across the sidewalk from the mother plants.
Right now I probably have more than 20 Bleeding Heart seedlings by the mother plant. It's an especially prolific year for seedlings of various perennials.

I have 3 of these pink bleeding hearts in different locations, but I've never seen a "reseed" off spring in the beds. I am going to watch the seed pods carefully. Hope they are not the kind that "burst" and scatter!

I have collected seeds from Bleeding Hearts but only pink ones. You have to be very vigilant in order to get the pods just when the seeds are ready, before they drop. I have tied a little paper bags loosely around the pods in order to collect them. Like the others, I have found 'reseeds' and have used them in other areas of the garden, but again, only pink. I would like to get another white, but perhaps it's a sterile hybrid. I never see ripe pods. I have traded some of my seeds and they germinated (winter sowed).

This is good to know. I will definitely look for seed pods this year. I would love more bleeding heart for my gardens.

Nancy they will burst and scatter, I have a yard full of them, they do not last long once ripe, keep an eye on them as carefully as you can, the seeds are ripe inside the pod when they are black. If you can get them at the ripe stage just toss the seeds where you want them, they will come up next year. BTW, your hands will turn yellow in spots where you hold the seeds, use a thin glove if you don't want the yellow all over your hands, :)
Alberta

Thanks everyone! I am going to go out tomorrow AM and slip that stem of hanging seed pods into an old knee high stocking to make sure I don't lose the seeds with a "burst"!!!

I did look at all the pods today Alberta and there is one at the beginning of the stem that has black seeds inside - going to grab that one tomorrow!. I am very psyched, as I have never had the luck others seem to have with reseeds showing up ( I have a million plants that reseed - but not these)

Nancy

glad I saw this thread - I have a really large bleeding heart - have never seen seedlings and never even thought to look for seed - I will now - thanks for all the neat info .....

Lynne

I finally was able to collect bleeding heart seeds last summer. Used tulle bags to collect seeds as the pods burst. Based on some advice - I sowed the seeds shortly after harvesting. I collected the standard pink dicentra, white dicentra and dicentra valentine. i only have sprouts from the dicentra valentine. Which is amusing since I was worried that the valentine could have been a sterile hybrid!

I'll hold onto the other containers for a while.

Bleeding Heart seed pods actually open when they are still green looking. At least the ones on my white bleeding heart do.

This is a really interesting thread! I never thought to try to sow these. But here's the funny thing - just a few weeks back I was working in a friend's garden, and was struck by all the new bleeding heart plants she had. She gets reseeders everywhere. I don't think I've ever had a single one in my yard. So here I was just recently thinking about how they grow from seed, but never made the connection to ws them till I saw this thread. I guess I'm just not much of seed collector. I don't think in terms of collecting seed; I base my sowing decisions on what I see in catalogs, lol. I need to start changing that viewpoint!

Interesting pixie lou- as I was reading your post, I thought, huh, I bet she doesn't get anything from the Valentine - and here you are, with sprouts ONLY from the Valentine! It will be interesting to see the bloom color on them! :)

Dee

digger, it makes you wonder why some gardens get some plants that reseed everywhere and others seem not to lend themselves to reseeding..I often wonder why that is (ie with Rudbeckias, I had a giant Denver Daisy. I dont think I got 2 self-seeded seedlings from the plant!)

It IS kind of odd, val, isn't it? The funny thing is, her garden is much better cared-for than mine, lol. Mine is very neglected, and you'd think you'd get more reseeding in a neglected garden! I know she has her BHs in a MUCH wetter area - standing water at some times of year, and never completely dry, not even in prolonged periods of no rain. Maybe the seed coatings break down more in that moisture, or maybe they "stick" better in the damp soil than in my drier soil and have more time/opportunity to germinate... who knows? All I know is that my one bleeding heart has been just that for 10 years - one bleeding heart! :)

I have had pink bleeding hearts for 15 years but never collected a seed or pod till this year,the pods where always there but so where the birds ,mostly white crowned sparrows,I think they love the seeds.