Features of the Bleeding Heart Plant: Bleeding hearts are a great way to add color and texture to woodland or shady areas. All species have incredibly attractive, deeply cut foliage with charming pink heart-shaped flowers in the spring. There are different sizes, and over the years, hybrids have been created to increase the number of flower colors and lengthen the flowering period. To make sure the plants don’t die in the summer, plant them near other plants that can “fill in the gap” for a while, like Hosta or Hellebores. The Dicentra will return when the weather cools again in the spring.
Bleeding Heart Growing Instructions Bleeding heart prefers a shady spot in the garden with rich, slightly moist soil. Mulch around the plants to keep the soil moist, and mark their planting bed so you don’t dig them up by accident when they go dormant in late summer. If the conditions are right, some bleeding heart plants can get as tall as 4 feet, so you may need to stake them so they don’t climb over other plants. Bleeding heart is not recommended for human or animal consumption.
Bleeding heart plants (Dicentra spectabilis) and hostas are two classic shade-loving perennials that pair beautifully together. With their complementing shapes, textures, and bloom times, they make excellent companions in shady garden beds and borders. Here’s how to design an eye-catching shade garden featuring these two stalwart perennials.
Benefits of Bleeding Hearts and Hostas
Bleeding hearts offer gracefully arching stems punctuated by rows of charming, dangling heart-shaped flowers in pinks, reds, and whites. They bloom in spring. Hostas provide big, bold foliage that comes in wide range of leaf colors, shapes, sizes and textures. They offer interest all season long.
Together, bleeding hearts and hostas provide a nice contrast in form, color and texture. Bleeding hearts bring the delicacy while hostas supply substance. Hostas also help fill in space once bleeding hearts have finished blooming. And both are low maintenance, thriving with little care in shady spots where other plants struggle.
Designing Your Shade Garden
When planning your bleeding heart and hosta garden, keep these design tips in mind:
Complementary Foliage
Choose hosta varieties with foliage colors that contrast nicely with the pinks and reds of bleeding hearts. Go for hostas with yellow, white or blue-green leaves. Or try ones with variegated leaves.
Varied Textures
Mix in hostas with different leaf textures. Combine ones with thick corrugated leaves along with hostas that have flat, smooth foliage for visual interest.
Flower Colors
Stick with red or pink bleeding hearts to complement the cool hues of hostas. But also consider adding white bleeding hearts (Dicentra spectabilis ‘Alba’) for a pretty contrast.
Plant in Drifts
Plant bleeding hearts and hostas in uneven drifts and clumps rather than straight rows Repeat certain varieties throughout the bed for a cohesive look
Front to Back
Place the taller bleeding heart varieties near the back of the bed. Put shorter hostas up front as well as lower-growing bleeding hearts. This gives your garden dimension.
Foliage First
Since hosta leaves last all season, use these as foundation plants. Then intersperse the bleeding hearts for added floral interest.
Best Hostas to Pair with Bleeding Hearts
Here are some top hosta varieties to combine with bleeding hearts:
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Hosta ‘Blue Angel’ – Massive blue-gray leaves. Grows 4 ft. tall and wide.
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Hosta ‘Fragrant Bouquet’ – Heavily corrugated, medium green leaves with fragrant white flowers. Grows 18-20 in. tall and wide.
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Hosta ‘Guacamole’- Lush chartreuse leaves turn darker green later in season. Grows 2 ft. tall and wide.
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Hosta ‘Sagae’ – Thick gray-green leaves with yellow margins that lighten over season. Grows 20 in. tall and wide.
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Hosta ‘Stained Glass’ – Bright gold leaves with wide, dark green margins. Grows 10-15 in. tall and wide.
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Hosta ‘Sum and Substance’ – Huge, glossy chartreuse leaves on a massive 4 ft. wide clump.
Caring for Bleeding Hearts and Hostas
Bleeding hearts and hostas share the same basic care needs:
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Partial to full shade
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Rich, moist soil
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Mulch to retain moisture
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Regular water, especially in first year
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Fertilize in spring with balanced organic fertilizer
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Cut back spent bleeding heart foliage
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Divide hostas when they become overcrowded
Extending Your Bloom Season
While bleeding hearts bloom for just a short period in spring, you can enjoy flowers in your shade garden from spring through fall by planting spring bulbs and summer-blooming perennials like astilbe, coral bells, and lenten roses. This ensures your bleeding heart and hosta garden will offer interest all season long.
With their natural affinity for shady sites, easy care and stellar good looks, it’s hard to top bleeding hearts and hostas. Use these design tips to create a spectacular shade garden featuring this perennial pairing. Soon you’ll have a beautiful, low maintenance oasis right in your own backyard.
Amore Pink Bleeding Heart
As the weather gets warmer, Amore Pink bleeding heart grows into a neat mound of blue-green leaves that are topped with clusters of soft pink flowers all spring and summer. In hot-summer climates, it produces fewer blooms in the heat. Amore Pink grows 14 inches tall and wide. Zones 5-9.
The old-fashioned bleeding heart is a shade perennial that lives for a long time and has lots of heart-shaped candy-pink flowers in April and May. It has beautiful blue-green leaves all summer and fall in mild climates, but it goes dormant in hot summer places. It grows 4 feet tall and wide. Zones 3-9.
How to Grow & Care For Bleeding Heart | Perennial Garden
How do you grow a bleeding heart Hosta?
Bleeding Heart (Lamprocapnos, syn. Dicentra) Charming heart-shaped flowers occur along arching stems in shades of pink, white or red. The lacy foliage and elegant upright structure of this spring bloomer provides delicate contrast to the bold leaves of hosta. Plant bleeding hearts and hostas together in a shade garden or container. 6.
How do you plant bleeding hearts?
Build a cone of soil in the middle to position the plant at the correct height.Fill the hole with the remaining garden soil and water the plant. – For smaller bare-root varieties, plant with the crown
Are bleeding heart plants a pest?
Bleeding heart plants are relatively unattractive to pests, but that doesn’t mean you won’t occasionally encounter the familiar aphid, mealy bugs, or spider mite, all of which can be controlled with a strong blast of water, insecticidal soap, or neem oil, following the manufacturer’s instructions.
Can you have multiple Hostas in a garden?
It’s not surprising that many gardeners have multiple hostas in their landscapes, and the creation of an entire hosta garden is a popular design choice. These plants make themselves at home in containers, in the garden and paired with companion plants. Popular companion plants for hostas include hydrangeas and azaleas.
