Bleeding Heart

Other Names: Fringed Bleeding Heart, Plume Bleeding Heart

Ornamental Features:

Bleeding Heart features delicate nodding pink heart-shaped flowers dangling from the stems from mid spring to mid summer. It's ferny compound leaves remain bluish-green in colour throughout the season. The fruit is not ornamentally significant.

Landscape Attributes:

Bleeding Heart is an herbaceous perennial with a mounded form. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect.

This perennial will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and should be cut back in late fall in preparation for winter. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Self-Seeding

Bleeding Heart is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Border Edging
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• Container Planting

Plant Characteristics:

Bleeding Heart will grow to be about 10 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 18 inches. Its foliage tends to remain low and dense right to the ground. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As this plant tends to go dormant in summer, it is best interplanted with late-season bloomers to hide the dying foliage.

This perennial does best in partial shade to shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This plant can be propagated by division.

This species is native to parts of North America, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets.