Bleeding Hearts

The flowers around the pond are mostly spiky ones -- liarope, day lilies, salvia, veronica . . . and of course, the roses. But this year, two new plants joined those spiky ones -- a Lenten rose and a favorite, a bleeding heart.

My mother always had bleeding hearts -- in her garden in the city and then when she moved to the suburbs, a start came with her.

I love the pink hearts that dangle from the branches of the bleeding heart. And, as a child, flowers were not just for the dining room and kitchen tables but were also to play with. I spent hours in the garden playing with columbine, making hollyhock dolls, and playing with bleeding hearts while my mother weeded and tended to her flowers.

It was my mother who taught me about the garden fairies and legends that surround the flowers. The legend of the bleeding heart is true, and it's fun to get a blossom or two and follow the directions of the story.

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful princess. Young men from far and near came to pay her court. But the princess was very vain and would have nothing to do with any of them.

A young prince from a neighboring country fell deeply in love with her. She ignored him like the others, though he tried and tried to win her heart.

One day the prince found a pair of pretty pink rabbits at the market. He sent them to the princess thinking "these will surely melt her heart".

Carefully break off the two outside petals of a flower. You will find that they do look like a pair of pink rabbits!

But the princess went right on ignoring him. Then the prince sent her a pair of beautiful Oriental slippers.

Take off the two long petals. You can easily see the dainty heels, the slender insteps and the widened toes. They should look like a pair of real Oriental slippers.

Still the princess would have nothing to do with him. The young prince was so heart broken that he took his dagger and drove it into his heart.

The remains of the flower made the outline of a heart with a line down the center. If you break out the stamen (which made the line) it looks like a dagger. Put it through the center of the heart. The perfect heart will be pierced by a dagger!

As soon as the prince was dead, the princess realized that she really loved him. "As long as I live, my heart shall bleed for my prince", she wept!

That is the legend of the bleeding heart!

My bleeding heart, the latest addition, to Linderhof's garden came from Minnesota. It is adapting to prairie heat very well. It shall remind me of all of those bleeding heart flowers that I played with as a child and the bleeding heart that was always in my mother's garden.

It's Saturday, which means that it's Pink Satuarday -- please join Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see everyone's Pinks this Saturday!