Bleeding Hearts can spread naturally by rhizomes or self-seeding, but they are not considered to be aggressive or invasive.

Some Bleeding Heart varieties make great fresh cut flowers lasting about 2 weeks in a vase.

Common Bleeding Heart flower (Dicentra spectabilis) is great for shaded borders or woodland gardens, while the North American species are great for edging, rock gardens, underplanting shrubs or as ground covers.

Most Bleeding Hearts perform best in partial to full shade and may tolerate sun in cooler northern zones, provided the soil is kept consistently moist.Bleeding Heart can be incredibly winter hardy (hardiness zones 3-9), depending on the species and varieties.tall (90 cm), depending on the species and varieties. Bleeding Heart can grow from under 12 in.Others bloom over a long season extending from spring to fall. Some are ephemeral: they bloom for 4-6 weeks in late spring - early summer and tend to decline or even disappear for the rest of the summer.

Bleeding Hearts are rhizomatous or tuberous perennials that come back year after year.Not as commonly grown in cultivation but still very handsome are North American native species, including Dicentra canadensis (Squirrel Corn), Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's breeches), Dicentra eximia (Fringed Bleeding Heart), and Dicentra formosa (Western Bleeding Heart). Named for its heart-shaped flowers that dangle above the foliage, Bleeding Heart belongs to the genus Dicentra which includes 8 species native to eastern Asia and North America.Īmong them is Dicentra spectabilis (renamed Lamprocapnos spectabilis), a widely popular Bleeding Heart species hailing from Siberia, northern China, Korea, and Japan.Bleeding Heart is a member of the poppy family of flowering plants, Papaveraceae.All you need to know about Bleeding Hearts

In hotter climates, flowering will usually stop in the heat of the summer but may start again when the weather cools in late summer or early fall.īeautiful in leaf, as soon as they sprout, they quickly add their charming blooms and make elegant additions to the garden when combined with other shade-loving perennials. Shade tolerant, they can bloom over a long season, extending from late spring to early fall, in cooler climates. Appealing to most gardeners, Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra) are easy-care perennials with heart-shaped flowers dangling in arching panicles or racemes above attractively divided leaves.

Wild bleeding hearts flower