I think I tried to move a Dicentra once and it died on me. And I heard they resent moving. Normally I have a high percentage of success with moving perennials and shrubs, probably because I really keep it moist and I provide shade for a week. This perennial gives me hesitation. And I thought if i was going to lose the bloom for this season, I'd wait to move it. PLus I used to have a lot of pink and white dicentra but the rabbits or some other critter ate them and they disappeared. Funny though they left all the white ones alone. And I love dicentra and I would really like to increase mine.

Thanks for that rule of thumb, I hadn't heard that one.

My experience with moving them is the root is very brittle. It’s hard not to damage them. But I’ve had no difficulty moving smaller ones.

Thanks, North, this one is a big one that's been in that position at least 7 years. So if I break off a bit of root in the process, it won't kill the plant, right?

I'll try to move mine while they are still small from now on.

My experience with moving them is the root is very brittle

I second that observation@north53 Z2b MB. (The roots kind of remind of a dahlia's)

I have seen all sorts of nefarious transplanting practices...as long as moisture is present, plants are a lot more resilient than we might imagine.

Yup. True for most any perennial @rosaprimula UK (Cambridge) Z8/9

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA, do it now in anticipation of lots of rain likely/hopefully to happen this month.

Every spring I’ve divided one of the clumps I have by just taking my spade down its centre and removing the chunk, cutting that piece into smaller pieces and potting up. The potted divisions often start flowering within a few weeks. It’s one of the easier things to divide. Perhaps just divide it if you are scared to move the whole thing.

Thank you Rouge for the encouragement to do it today. Don't know if I'm going to get to it before it rains, but we'll see. I've been out there cleaning up, and we're expecting rain tomorrow and Thursday, so a short week to work out there.

LaLennoxa, That's good to know that you do this every spring. You must have a lot by now. I'm going to try that technique. In this case, I'm going to have to remove the whole thing because it is too close to a bush, but...I'll do the same thing you did only with both halves. Thanks.

Edit: Sitting here watching the sky get darker and darker and I thought of an alternative. I don't have the energy to move it or the time....so I got the shovel and sliced down around it in a circle to get it ready to move. Then I did the same thing to another Dicentra and 4 Foxgloves that need moving. So...they have a head start for getting ready to move. That's as good as I can do today. .

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA - I must say I was incentivized by wanting to pot up plants for my plant sale! Since they start coming up so early here, they sell really well when plant sale season starts. I don't have a greenhouse, so what I'm selling often reflects real time growth :-)

I like that idea. I attend a local sale here every May and sometimes I think about whether I would want to sell plants there. Sounds like a lot of work that I don't think I'm up for that right now. I always have more than enough to do just to keep up with the garden.

The hardest plant sale work is you’re often potting up when it’s miserable and cold outside (at least in my area) and things can look wimpy (even though you know they’ll be fine). That’s why you learn to like the things that can look really strong early on. Like rhubarb, liatris, bee balm, dicentra…:-)

I hadn't thought of that, I am now going to have to notice what in my garden looks good early. The sale I would participate in is the weekend of Mother's Day so yes, pretty early.

Its better to move them in the fall. They quickly dissapear after blooming and making seeds, they get all their energy from the sun before the tree/shrub canopy leafs out. Their bulbs look like something from another planet. There are little pups/bulbets that easily come loose from the main bulb. Each one will grow a new plant that will bloom in a few years. Its a nice way to imcrease the clump size. Ants collect the seeds to eat the elaiosomes attached to the seeds. That's why Dutchman's Breeches seedling show up in strange locations. Moving it now will affect the flowering.

Dicentra cucullaria bulb with bulbets.

Jay, that's fascinating. I did not know any of that. And the bulbs are unusual looking. I rarely get a seedling in the yard.

Moving them in the fall, becomes a problem because they disappear and how do you figure out where to dig without cutting right into them?

You could surround the plant with small stones or labels, so you know where to place the shovel. Sometimes I don't mark the spot, and they vanish. Virginia Bluebells dissapear quickly after flowering too. I want to grow Squirell Corn, Dicentra canadensis and native Fringed Bleeding Heart, Dicentra exemia too. All the online nurseries are sold out of them. I have a fumitory obsession. Im not crazy about the Climbing Fumitory, Adlumia fungosa.. If it's flowers looked like Capnoides sempervirens instead of pale pepto bismol pink, I would be. Adlumia asiatica has attractive flowers.

Ah, well Jay, then you are more of an expert, I'd imagine than the rest of us. I had to look up fumitory....lol. Thank you for expanding my vocabulary! I didn't realize there were so many in the genus, 60 species, wow. How long have you been collecting them? I bet the only one I hvae is bleeding heart. I really love Dutchman's Breeches, but I've bought it twice and it disappeared on me. I do have Dicentra exemia and Virginia Bluebells, does that count? Of what you've grown, which do you feel has been the easiest to grow and spreads the best?

That is a good idea to put the stones in the position I'd want to put the shovel and do it that way. I have a pile of small stones and nothing to do with them. You do it that way with success? Do you leave the root ball intact or do you divide it or separate the bulbs? Well, looks like I have multiple options.

The only caution I would say to you is, be careful with collection obsessions. I was really into collecting epimedium for 15 years and had a good collection going, then one season rabbits wiped out 80% of my plants. They chewed them back to the ground and they just never came back. Very disappointing.

I want to grow Squirell Corn, Dicentra canadensis and native Fringed Bleeding Heart, Dicentra exemia too. All the online nurseries are sold out of them.

@Jay 6a Chicago

US Perennials has some D. eximia left in stock. They're a great nursery (and very reasonably priced): I've been very pleased with my orders from them over the last year or two:

https://www.usperennials.com/dicentra-eximia-fringed-bleeding-heart-turkey-corn/

oh, dear, sah67 -- you ought not to have posted that website... I am spending too much time there, and am fighting my inclination to place an order. Help! I need an intervention.....

Thank you Rouge for the encouragement to do it today. Don't know if I'm going to get to it before it rains,

And speaking of rain, we are getting so much today...probably 50mm/2in when it is all said and done.

What about you @prairiemoon2 z6b MA....you get lots too?

Prairiemoon, the only thing that I grow in the fumitory subfamily is Dutchman's Breeches. Ive tried growing the native bleeding heart, but it didn't overwinter. I had a large specimen of the Asian Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis, but it was killed by chipmunks. I had 1 Adlumia fungosa that germinated years after I had scattered the seeds for it, but it didn't return after the winter, so it never bloomed. I've grown Corydalis lutea and the blue flowered Corydalis flexuosa before. The C. lutea was very hardy, the C. flexuosa never overwintered, even though it's supposed to be hardy to zone 5, and Im in zone 6a. The blue Corydalis was a big deal, after it was discovered and made available to the public. Squirell Corn grows near me, but I haven't seen it locally. What I like about fumitory species is their delicate cut leaves. Thalictrum species and Blue Cohosh have similar leaves. My Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, and native Wood Poppy, Stylophorum diphylla are also in the poppy family, but in a different tribe, Chelidonieae. The don't have cut leaves, but their leaves are beautiful all the same. I don't dig up my D. cucularia, because they spread reliably from seed, so I let the clumps get larger. I would only plant the bulbets seperately if I was moving a plant. Thank you for the link sah67! Im going to check it out now.👀

Rouge, so far it's been a non event. Even the wind has been no more than usual. A little rain, no snow. Sounded a little like hail against the window when it first started but didn't develop into anything.

We're considered along the coast of Massachsetts, despite the ocean being a good 15-20 miles away. People to the west and the north of me are expecting actual plowable snow.

We are expected to get more tonight into tomorrow. 3 inch total rain possible. I am measuring.

Jay, I have blood root and it comes back faithfully every year. I didn’t plant it, it just showed up one year. I also have Wood Poppy. I had the Chinese variety when I moved here and I wanted the native. The Chinese variety really reseeds a lot, and it took me a few years to pull it all out, but I’m pretty sure it is gone now. At least it was easy to pull out. It’s amazing how much the two look alike, but, there are subtle differences and I like the native Stylophorum. I also like the seed pods that hang off them, as I LOVE the way the seed pods hang off the bleeding heart plants.

i didnt read the above ... so just add what i would do ...

if you move it now.. you will lose this years bloom .. so my bottom line is... enjoy bloom.. whatever it is under the bush .. and then move it after ...

perennial.. annual .. shrub.. who cares ..

trees. not so much.. timing is very important ... shrubs too at some level .. but most of those are 'run it over with the truck' plants.. and take a lot of abuse....

whats your hurry??

did anyone else say this.. lol ...

ken

Ken, you are correct, no one else said that. LoL Although Jay suggested Fall was a better time to move it.

And I had a long explanation of my thinking about moving things and I Ieft it out.

Bottom line, I didn't move it, I cut around it in a circle to prepare it for the move and I left it there. Whether that will cause it not to bloom, I guess we will find out.

They are somewhat delicate I recommend not running them over with your truck, no matter how much you want to. BTW I ordered 3 native Bleeding Hearts, thanks for the tip sah67! They call it Turkey Corn.All I need now is the Squirell Corn.

Hepatica acutiloba

Hepatica acutiloba

Viola sororia

Hepatica acutiloba

Phlox divaricata

Trillium sessile

Mertensia virginica

Cardamine concatenata

Sanguinaria canadensis.

Hepatica acutiloba

I doubt you'd lose bloom on a common bleeding heart by moving it now or root pruning it as you did. A lot of the bleeding hearts that will show up in pots blooming in the garden centers soon were just chunks of roots dropped in the pot about a month before they're sold.

Jay, great photos. They all are very sweet little plants, so delicate!

Pennlake - thanks for that vote of confidence. I'll be very happy to see the Dicentra bloom this year despite the root pruning. I think you must be right, that the pots selling in the garden centers have just ug up chunks and potted them soon before they're sold. I think that's what LaLennoxa was saying was her experience, of dividing and potting up for sale in the spring.

Hey PM - just one note of clarification here....I am a dude here, though I have absolutely no gender hangups :-)

Oops! lol Sorry about that. I have no idea why I assumed that. I always enjoy the male perspective in the garden too. It often seems to me that there are more female gardeners than male. So it's nice.