Friday 21 September 2012

Plant of the week

Dicentra macrocapnos


It is yellow, it climbs and flowers in Autumn. It’s a hardy herbaceous perennial and thrives on a wall of any aspect. I have seen it equally magnificent on walls north and south.

It is described as scandent and  clambers everywhere. This can be it’s Achilles heel as it will scramble all over other plants. It is perhaps best planted with a space to itself with netting to cling to. An alternative strategy is to let it grow over a coarse hedge or shrub. 

Although D.macrocapnos is completely hardy, it overwinters best at the base of a wall.

Propagation

Although it is herbaceous and dies to the ground, I have never succeeded in propagating it by division. It is quick and easy from seed, as is the almost identical Dicentra scandens. 

Both are available from Chilterns Seeds.

2 comments:

  1. Just googled this plant as mum brought us back one of these from your last open day and look who I found on google's top 10 - will take your advice and plant out near to a wall!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great to hear from you and Nick, Gail. Our Dicentra macrocapnos has been flowering for many months this year and is looking great
    Nick's mum made a comment on a post recently- "gosh a picture of our garden!"

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