How to Grow Bleeding Hearts

It is easy to grow Bleeding Hearts. For the gardener planting this vintage plant the rewards for growing Bleeding Hearts are memories from childhood, a harbringer of spring, and one of the most enjoyable plants to grow in your shade garden. Bleeding Hearts plants are a shade perennial flower that will come back year after year to grace your garden with their delicate spring flowers. The botanical name for Bleeding Hearts plant is Dicentra Spectabilis. Bleeding Heart plants bloom after the daffodils and with the lilacs. Depending on how far south or north your home is, the classic heart shaped pink or white flowers will bloom through April and May. The Bleeding Heart will grow to about two to three feet in height.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Select a planting site, the Bleeding Heart is native to woodland settings. Look for a site that has partial sun, dappled shade or full shade. Ask yourself, does your selected site resemble a woodland floor, that Bleeding Hearts natural habitat, that is the perfect site for a Bleeding Hearts plant.
2. Prepare the site. Dig a hole that is twice as large as the root ball and enrich with organic material such as compost. Woodland plants prefer the soil to be well drained with a pH of six to six and a half. Consider planting other shade perennials in the same bed, the best choice are those that peak in July or August and whose growth is minimal in April and May, Hostas are an example of a good plant to intermix in the planting bed with the Bleeding Hearts.
3. Cut the plant back after the Bleeding Heart blooms and plant begins to slowly die back. Leave the plant in place after it blooms if you choose, it will not have an impact on the plant. Do not worry when the Bleeding Heart plant is completely invisible by July, it will be back next year.
4. Transplant Bleeding Hearts plants by letting it grow in a single site for a few years, then remove half of the root ball after flowering and before the plant has died back for the summer. Plant the removed portion of the Bleeding Hearts rootball in a new site.