Hands down Gold Heart is my favorite. The flowers are transitory but the foliage color is spectabular and it lasts a long time before going dormant. For me dormancy happens mid to end of July. Why not grow both?

Gold Heart is fantastic! I also highly suggest 'Valentine!' The blooms of it are very red.

Gold Heart is fantastic! I also highly suggest 'Valentine!' The blooms of it are very red.

I love my sometimes too big Dicentra spectabilis.

Last summer I planted "Valentine" and I am hoping to see those wonderful deep red flowers this spring.

Love them both, Try to make room for them. I understand what you mean about the bloom color, but so much to enjoy with the beautiful foilage of the Gold Heart.

I personally prefer 'Alba' over 'Gold Heart' and that is only because I am not a big fan of the Gold/Pink combination. I think it harkens back to my time at a garden center in the 90's when every other customer wanted the 'GoldFlame' or 'GoldMound' Spireas (and lots of them) which had the gold leaves and pink flowers. Gold and pink together can look garish.

But I think, as evidenced is the beautiful picture above, if some careful thought is given to placement and color combination of companion plants, it would be spectacular.

I have 'Alba' growing in a full shade bed and it is reliably stunning year after year for producing dozens upon dozens of pure white, elegant blooms. It has a long bloom time, isn't bothered by pests or predators and requires zero maintenance which = perfect perennial in my book. The gold/pink color combination of 'Gold Heart' holds no appeal for me next to 'Alba.'

I love my goldheart. The gold leaves really light up the shady spot I have it in all summer and the pink flowers are gone soon enough. I had in mind to add a valentine to the same bed for the dark red flowers, but now I'm thinking alba might look very nice there.

I have 'Alba' growing in a full shade bed and it is reliably stunning year after year for producing dozens upon dozens of pure white, elegant blooms.

I saw a mass planting of 'Alba' in a very shady woodland setting at a university a few years ago. It was spectacular.

C'mon, guys! You are not making my choice any easier, lol! :-)

I can only choose one. Which one do you think would go best with Disporum 'Night Heron', different cultivars of painted ferns and Aster divaricatus?

Thanks again,
Ispahan

Edited to add:
Ok, after thinking about this for a while, I have decided to go with 'Alba' due to the already existing plants in this bed. I am afraid that 'Gold Heart' (with or without the pink blooms) with bronzy Disporum 'Night Heron' and 3-4 different cultivars of Japanese painted ferns will end up being too Disney technicolor.

I do love chartreuse/yellow/cream foliage in shade, so for more subtle color accents I will include some Tricyrtis 'Gilt Edge' and Peucedanum ostruthium 'Daphnis'.

'Gold Heart' looks like a very special plant but I am afraid I don't have the proper place for it right now.

This post was edited by ispahan on Thu, Apr 18, 13 at 14:54

Does this help? Mine is growing in my shade bed along with variegated hosta, Japanese painted fern, astilbe, toad lily, snakeroot & Japanese sedge 'Ice Dance.'

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Gardenweed, yes! That is what I am talking about! :-)

ispahan - SO happy to help!

Looking forward to my own 'Alba' showing up this year! It's up a bit already.

'Gold Heart' is a much more vigorous plant for me. In fact 'Alba' has dwindled away to nothing while it increases every year. I just bought the new true red 'Valentine'. I hope it is a good one.

The white 'Langtrees' with it's blue foliage is much more vigorous for a white Dicentra for me. It is to the right in the picture.

oops. I edited the text and lost the photo.....

Gold Heart is attractive over a much longer period than 'alba'. It looks good long after the leaves on 'alba' have begun to fade for the season.
And though I resisted this plant at first, thinking the combination of pink and yellow rather "icky", I have changed my mind. It's a dynamic combination.

So true. 'Gold Heart' looks great even without flowers. I hope they create a gold foliage version with red blooms like Valentine.

I designed, planned & planted my shade bed knowing Dicentra s. 'Alba' wouldn't put on a season-long show. By the time it finishes blooming and the foliage begins to deteriorate, other shade lovers planted nearby block the dying foliage from my view. While it's blooming, however, IMO it holds its own in the perennial shade garden long enough to justify its presence. To each his/her own preference of course. It will have its place in my garden so long as it comes up every year, which (in my experience thus far) has been reliably, for more than a decade. What more can anyone ask?

Why choose just one? Plant both. I plan to add a white one too at the other end of the flower bed

Hmmmm, I was on the "icky" boat too, but the comments and photos have me rethinking. Might have to add this one after all since I love the other three types.
Gonativegal mentioned the spireas with similar color. I think you're right, that's where the icky factor started!