How to Winterize Bleeding Heart

With fern-like foliage and curving stems of heart-shaped flowers, bleeding heart is a favorite in perennial gardens. The old-fashioned variety blooms in the summer, while the fringed-leaf bleeding heart blooms from summer to frost. Part of caring for a bleeding heart is preparing the plant for cold weather.

Bleeding Hearts Die Off In Winter?

Perhaps the best known species, common bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis) is native to Asia and has several cultivars. It remains dormant until the next spring. To avoid a gap in garden areas, either locate the plant toward the back of the bed where the hole left by the dormant plant won't be noticeable or overplant its space with summer annuals such as cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus). It can go dormant in summer during dry, hot weather but often resprouts in fall and reblooms. The plant is native to the Appalachian Mountains. Native to the western U.S., western bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa) grows in USDA zones 4 through 9. Adrian Bloom" has dark red flowers, "Bacchanal" has wine-red flowers and "Luxuriant" bears dark pink flowers that approach red. Hybrids have dormancy habits similar to those of their parents.