Bleeding Heart

Bleeding Heart, Bleeding Heart flower, bleeding heart flower meaning

Bleeding hearts, the poetically named perennials, have heart-shaped pendant pink or white flowers with spurs at the base and fernlike attractive foliage. Dicentra spectabilis is the showiest, but its flowers finish in spring and its foliage disappears in midsummer. Other species continue to bloom all summer.

How to grow: Bleeding hearts need open or partial shade with an evenly moist, slightly acidic soil. Plenty of peat moss must be used when planting. Pine needles or pine bark are good for mulching.

Propagation: By division in early spring or from seed; roots are fleshy and sold by the number of eyes present on plant starts. Transplant self-sown plants.


Bleeding Heart flower meaning - Despite the fact that the rose is classically considered the ultimate floral symbol of romance, the bleeding heart flower is quickly catching up. One glance at the distinctive heart shape of these blossoms and you will understand why. Bleeding hearts belong to the small dicentra genus, which is a member of the fumariaceae family. These blossoms, which are herbaceous perennials, are native to regions of North America and eastern Asia. Bleeding hearts generally reach 2 to 3 feet in both height and width. 


Their thick, arching stems contain long divided leaves that are dark green with faintly red veins. The flowers themselves hang like pendants from the stems, and are made up of two small sepals; two joined and perfectly straight inner petals; and two ballooned or spurred external petals. Although dicentra spectabilis – one of the most common species of bleeding hearts – only comes in colors of white and dark pink, other species may be seen in rose, dusky lilac, or even a faint, peachy pink hue.