Bleeding Heart
The flowers of the bleeding heart are aptly named. They are puffy and suggest a heart with two “drops of blood” flaring up and out from the base, resulting in an overall lyre shape. The blossoms are pink, rose-pink with white tips, or occasionally white in color, and hang pendulously from horizontally arching and drooping stems. The flower clusters are up to 9 inches long, and are produced among and on top of the foliage.
The foliage is medium green, often with a slightly graying cast, with deeply cut leaves that give the plant a fine-textured appearance. The plant forms dense clumps of arching sprays of foliage 30 inches tall and up to 36 inches wide. Because of its relatively large size and a tendency to die down after blooming, it is best used as a specimen rather than massed, and used with accompanying plants that will succeed its effect later in the season.
The plant prefers rich, moist, well-drained soil that is high in organic matter. It will tolerate medium shade to full sun; however, in full sun the foliage will bum and die back quickly after flowering. It is also best to keep the plant out of drying winds. Space plants 2 feet apart if not growing as a single specimen. Dicentra eximia (Fringed Bleeding Heart) is notable for its beautiful gray-green, finely dissected foliage, which contrasts effectively with its deep rose to white flowers. It also has a longer blooming season. Several hybrid forms of this plant (probably crosses with D. formosa, among others) will bloom intermittently all summer long if faded blossoms are removed regularly. One example is the beautiful hybrid ‘Bountiful’, with intense, deep red flowers off and on from June until frost.
D. formosa (Western Bleeding Heart) is an aggressive spreader with flower stems about 1 foot tall and blossoms rose-purple to white in color.
