Dicentra

Best Of The Bunch: Dicentra THESE elegant perennials with fern-like foliage and heart-shaped flowers on arching stems make a great addition to the border, combining well with low-growing plants such as mossy saxifrages and hellebores, hostas and hardy geraniums.

The heart-shaped flowers of Dicentras come in the pretty pink and white of Dicentra spectabilis or the pure white of Dicentra spectabilis 'alba'.

These creeping dicentras, which flowering in early spring, are great for a shady spot, especially if not-too-rampant ground cover is needed.

Dicentras, better known as Bleeding Hearts, are another early flowering herbaceous plant.

Shade-loving plants (such as evergreen ferns, hostas, dicentras and pulmanias) make good companions with each other and the contrasts of foliage can be striking.