Try this - get a small laundrey basket at the dollar store. Plant your bleeding heart in that and then plant the whole thing in the ground. You can leave the rim above ground as a border or cover it completely. In late fall/early winter the plant loses most of it leaves and looks real woody. You can remover the entire thing from the ground and prune both the top and the roots. Replant in same place. Fertilize it when you see new growth in the spring. It should be in full bloom by late spring.

Thanks Zackey, I believe it is. I got it at a swap and it was just called Bleeding Heart. Thanks Sally, It is in the rose bed so it gets lots of the organics that the roses like. It is quite spoiled, unlike most of my other non-rose plants. Nancy

Mine had very thick "trunks" that were deader than a doornail come spring. Any new growth came back from the ground, so feel free to hack it back once it gets frozed. I've two patches, one in the shade of the maple tree, one in full sun, the one in full sun really struggled to come back come spring. Came up, wilted and died. Thought it was dead and gone, but danged if didn't sprout back up again starting about 6 weeks ago, and now the patch is wider-spread than ever. No flowers yet, so it's a waiting game to see what comes first: Flowers or Freeze... One patch is in front of a chain link fence and it just kinda winds itself through it. The other is in front of a reed fence in front of chain link, it wound itself through the reed fence there, and wouldn't you know it, all the flowers were in my neighbors yard! So I put a 3-step "ladder" trellis in the middle of it to give it support on my side of the fence and now there's more flower on my side now. It definitely likes moral support from horizontal surfaces, so I can see it not wanting to climb a tree trunk. I really like the plant and have the space, so started some cuttings that I'll plant in the spring. Such pretty, complex flowers! From Garden From Garden

The purple/red variety is called Clerodendron x speciosa and is a cross between the thomsoniae and the splendens. I have mine in full sun and allow it to dry between waterings. I usually feed it once a month. For some reason that one grows much bigger than either of my thomsoniae's. I love all the clerodendrons. There are so many varieties and some look absolutely nothing alike. My favorite is the C. ugandense Karyn