Hi, welcome to GoY, look up Dicentra Stuart Boothman, that has pink flowers and ferny type foliage, Derek.

Or Dicentra eximia which is very similar.

We had it in our gdn during the war but we called it Jingling Johnny! but then we none of us knew any Latin names at that time. I still see it growing occasionally but I don't think it's as popular as it once was. A pretty plant I think.

Dicentra formosa springs to mind...

Hi Bamboo, I thought of formosa, but decide on Stuart Boothman because of the height given as 8", formosa grows to about 18", S B to about 12", but apart from that they are very similar, Derek.

But was Stuart Boothman available in the 1940's? I thought it was more recent than that. Admittedly its a much better plant...

Hi Sue, I seem to have read somewhere that it was awarde the r h s agm in 1946, Stuart Boothman die in 1976 at the age of 70, so it's not inconceivable that it was in cultivation in the 1940's, but D eximia is too tall at 24", Derek.

Righty oh then - you can't win 'em all! I was just remembering the one we had in the 40s - the bog standard old fashioned one, perhaps it wasn't eximia after all - I never saw the much better ones until much later. Nothing grew very tall in that garden!

LOL Sue, Derek.

I too figured Stuart Boothman wouldn't have been around then, and I've grown D. formosa (years ago) in my own garden - it never got more than about 8/10 inches in height, but I'll admit it was growing in a very shady spot underneath a larger shrub, that might have made a difference to its height.

Formosa sound more like the one we had Bamboo. I tried it here but it got vine weevil and died. Also I think the bed was too dry for it. Like yours it only grew to about 8 inches.
However Shanakill, there are much better varieties around these days!