Bleeding heart/Dicentra spectabilis is incredibly tough despite its delicate looks. It's growing here in full shade as well as full sun and under the most amazing circumstances. A plant that used to grow up through cracked concrete steps for many years apparently got trampled when the stairway was dug up & made wider. It has apparently survived the trauma and now grows where the soil was moved from the bottom of the steps to the top of the short, steep slope.

The best time to divide dicentra is when it's finished flowering, and the foliage has declined. It's good to let it go as long as you can stand it, so it can take in and store nutrients (through the foliage) for next year's growth. You can divide either now or in the fall - I wouldn't do it in the spring - you want the roots to have plenty of time to get established before winter, and before the blooming season. mwieder's comment surprises me - I've never known this plant to be difficult to divide. Just prune off all the declining foliage, dig it up, cut up the root mass (it will look like a big lumpy unpeeled potato), and plant each piece in a new location. The bigger the pieces you plant, the bigger the plant will be when it comes up next spring. You'll also get a plant or two coming up in the old spot, from whatever fragments of root mass might have broken off when you dug it up. I have plants all over my yard, the garden at the church, and my neighbor's yards, and they all came from one tiny dried up "bare root" plant that I got from a mailorder place about 15 years ago. This plant doesn't need a lot of fussing, it's very hardy in zone 5, and, in my experience, and that of other gardener friends, very easy to divide successfully.

rouge21, what are the blue flowers on your first photo above? https://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/4022c4da0559d047_9-9395/home-design.jpg Last year I planted my first dicentra, both pink and white, but couldn't think of too many companions, except for bulbs, and these blue flowers on your photo are wonderful. At first I thought it's some kind of forget-me-nots, but I could be wrong.

Hi Sophie , First the young pink Cherry Blossum trees , are they new ones growing away from the tree or are they up close to the tree or out in the lawn or on the tree trunk? If they are, usually they are suckers and may or may not grow true . A lot of nurseries that do the initial grafting use apple trees for the root and up to where the graft is performed. What that means is that is most fruit trees are grafted onto other tree roots and trunk . If the suckers are growing above the graft they may be cherry , if below the graft they would be whatever variety of tree the nursery used for grafting . If they have been grown from seed then perhaps they can be dug with their own root stalk . They should be able to be divided and may come true . More info on Cherry Tree suckers can be found here in some informative discussions http://www.growsonyou.com/question/show/12695-problem-with-the-roots-of-my-cherry-tree You could try rooting these suckers but my thoughts are it would take a long time to get roots even with a number 3 rooting hormone usually used for woody plants. It would require taking the cutting , dipping in the hormone , planting and firming the earth around the cutting and then somehow keeping it covered with a bottle or a clear lid and keeping the soil uniformly moist (never let it dry out ) and once you see new growth you would know it is rooted. It definitely would take some time . Second I am curious to know which Rose of Sharon you are talking about with yellow blooms and that do not grow like a tree. Can you send a picture please . The only Rose of Sharon I am aware of are small trees. So you have my curiousity aroused. Bleeding hearts should be fairly straight forward , Dig , pull plant out and divide . There maybe individual plants in the clump it would require taking a good look ( washing off some of the dirt ) to see . If it is all one plant you can slice through the root taking care not to damage the brittle roots . Actually there was a discussion about this on gardenweb in 2006 here is the link : http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2153394/bleeding-hearts-getting-too-big-when-how Hope this helps and I hope to find out about yellow Rose of Sharon plants??? Signet