Bleeding Heart (Lamprocapnos, formerly Dicentra) never fails to enchant us each spring with strings of little heart-shaped flowers, dangling like so many lockets on a vintage charm bracelet.
If you don’t already grow one of these beauties, maybe now’s the time. Planting a bleeding heart is a lovely way to honor someone’s memory if you’ve recently lost a loved one, or a pet. Perhaps you just enjoy romantic and nostalgic things. Long lived and totally carefree, bleeding hearts unfurl their charms each spring to delight us for a few brief weeks, then softly fade away.
Old-Fashioned bleeding heart (D. spectabilis) which we’ll all familiar with, originated in Siberia, China and Japan but has now naturalized widely. The straight species features deep pink and white “hearts,” each with a “droplet” at the bottom, hence the name.
Flowers of the smaller, deeply cut fernleaf native species (eximia and formosa) are a solid dusty mauve-pink. The shape is more elongated and they are borne in upright clusters on individual stems. Eximia is native to eastern North America; Formosa or Pacific bleeding heart is native to the western U.S.
Native bleeding hearts are closely related to what we call Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) because the double-spurred flowers resemble Dutch pantaloons strung on a clothesline! More of an ephemeral wildflower, Dutchman’s Breeches are quite delicate. They can be tricky to grow unless you have undisturbed woodlands with ideal conditions.
The resemblance between species is clear when compared side by side. A related subspecies of Dutchman’s Breeches known colloquially as Squirrel Corn looks very much like native bleeding heart, also known as Turkey Corn. (The term “corn” used to mean lots many small discreet pieces, not the vegetable.)
Happily, new cultivars of regular bleeding heart have come on the market in recent years. One of my favorites is Alba, an all-white selection. It simply lights up the shade! Growth is robust and it flowers prolifically. I love how its flower stems extend horizontally in layers, allowing the blossoms to dangle freely in midair.
Other hybrids include Valentine, Red Fountain, Love Hearts, Gold Heart, and White Gold, an exotic-looking golden-foliaged white. Of the hybrids I only grow Gold Heart, primarily for the foliage.
Care and Siting
Bleeding hearts like damp, slightly acidic soil with plenty of leaf mold or organic matter and at least a half day of shade. Since they bloom before the trees fully leaf out, you can plant them under deciduous trees and shrubs, knowing they will get enough sun to bloom before they die back for the summer. Full sun will burn the foliage.
Keep in mind that spectabilis (Old-fashioned) and its hybrids spread quite slowly, perhaps doubling in size over five years. They seldom outgrow their spot. To avoid a gap when they go dormant, you should plant a companion plant with spreading foliage. I use a groundcover and astilbes in the same area, which work well to fill in.
After blooming, the foliage will turn yellow. Don’t clear it away; the plant needs to finish storing energy for next spring’s flowers. Ferns make ideal companions as they disguise the dying foliage, as do hostas, phlox, mints, Jacob’s Ladder and astilbes. If the flowering seems sparse, a feeding of a granular organic food like Holly-tone in spring may be beneficial every few years.
Fernleafs on the other hand, such as Dicentra Luxuriant, a nativar, do not go dormant in summer. I haven’t had issues my Luxuriant spreading, but the true native species will spread. The upside is fernleafs bloom intermittently all season long, providing months of color and pretty blue-green foliage right through to frost. Take advantage of this trait and treat it like a ground cover for troublesome shady spots. I found it to be an excellent filler plant.
Enjoying and Remembering
This spring, when you see a potted bleeding heart for sale at the nursery and you’ve got a shady spot, I hope you consider this lovely plant no matter which cultivar it is. I never fail to appreciate all four of mine. They remind me of my childhood among other things, and the everlasting beauty of nature. Surely every garden needs this sweet, nostalgic symbol of love and remembrance.
