Old-fashioned bleeding heart is a spring ritual: arching stems strung with rows of pink, heart-shaped lockets dangling over soft, ferny foliage. It grows to about 2 feet and blooms alongside the dogwoods and azaleas, then quietly goes dormant when summer heat arrives.

Plant it in part shade to shade in moist, rich soil; deer leave it alone. Because it dies back by midsummer here, tuck it among hostas or ferns that fill the gap, and mark its spot so you don't dig into the crown come fall.