Hey all!
I was thinking today about how amazing the flowers of Dicentra were. I used to grow them, but our family has moved and I've not picked it back up since.
However, I was thinking about the short blooming time of these plants and thought about how nice it would be to have blooms year round.
My thoughts: there are dwarf varieties that only grow to be about 9-12" wide, so I could grow these in tall 15" pots. Let them grow and bloom, and then move them to much lower light, watering schedule, and temp (40-50 F) for a month or so to trigger the dormancy. Then bare root and fridge them for 2-3 months. Then bring out the ones that have been sitting in the fridge while the other plants have been in bloom and plant them in fertilized soil with excellent drainage. Wash-Rinse-Repeat. :)
I'm not sure how much experience people have with caring for perennials like this, but do you all think that this would work? I figure there is no surefire way to know until you try, but I figured I'd run it by some more experienced growers before I gave it a shot. Also, I could give them a longer dormancy by having three or even four groups in the cycle. How long do you think they need to be dormant to be healthy? I have read about forcing bleeding hearts, but I couldn't find anything about out-of-season growing on a long term scale.
Also, having different varieties cycling in and out of dormancy would always keep it interesting! :)
Let me know what you think!
Chance