Bleeding Heart

Image: Dendroica cerulea
Lamprocapnos spectabilis

What becomes of the broken hearted?

Image: Steven Severinghaus

They get their broken hearts torn out and strung up in a line!

Image: Henry Figueroa

It's ever so pretty.

Image: Alwyn Ladell

The Bleeding Heart is a charming plant native to Siberia, northern China, Japan and Korea. Although, it's so charming that people have brought them to their gardens all over the world.

The plant can reach 1.2 metres (4 feet) tall and bears numerous, unbranched stems known as racemes, from which dangle up to 20 flowers.

Image: Lotte Grønkjær

The flowers are a delight! They look just like hearts. Not real hearts, that would be horrifying (and extremely cool), but pink, cartoon hearts with a big drop of pink, cartoon blood dripping off.

You can get away with SO MUCH if you do it with cartoons.

Image: Nicholas Turland

Eventually the pink petals split apart and the hearts BURST open, revealing their pale innards.

Don't worry, it's still a cartoon.

Image: Holger Casselmann

If you turn the hearts upside down you can see why they're also known as Lady-in-a-Bath.

It seems like she could do with a towel or bathrobe, but she doesn't because she's a cartoon and everything's fine.

Image: Manuel

Bleeding Hearts have also been cultivated into their own logical conclusion. Hearts with no more blood to lose.

I had a heart.
It broke apart.
And bled one drop at a time.

T'was no ordeal.
It wasn't real.
And I've lots more down the line.

I feel maybe I'm not quite getting into the Valentine's spirit?