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Suggestions need for what to plant beside Bleeding Heart

11 years ago

My bleeding heart is planted on the north side of my house in my perennial garden. Once my bleeding heart dies down later on, there will be an empty spot. What can I plant right next to it that will pop up where the BH was? I'm looking for something that will not grow over 3' tall. Thanks for all your help. I'm in Zone 8b, British Columbia.

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Comments (12)

gardenweed_z6a
11 years ago
I have a white bleeding heart growing on the north side of my house in almost full shade. Planted in front of it at the edge of the walkway is Carex 'Ice Dance'/variegated Japanese sedge, a well-behaved ornamental grass that gets about 18-20" tall by 24" wide. There are hosta and astilbe beside and behind the BH so when it goes dormant, those fill in and you'd never know it was there.
gardenbug
Original Author
11 years ago
Thankyou gardenweed,
The Japanese sedge is lovely. I love the astilbe too, it's very pretty. Can you please tell me how wide and tall astilbe gets? Although my garden faces north, it does get a bit of sun in the morning on the northeast corner of the house and in the afternoon, a bit of northwest sun. I really appreciate your ideas.
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I just got a Dicentra spectablis 'Alba' last year. I also have several of the pink ones too, but they are growing in separate beds. They are all growing in mostly shade, with a well-drained soil. The pink ones are growing close to the hose, so they get more water, which they probably like, nevertheless IIRC the white one retained its foliage longer than the pink. Mine bloom in early-mid May and that could be 2 weeks earlier this year, so I would get yours in the ground ASAP. I have never planted bare-root, however, they have been very easy to divide and transplant and would guess that the roots would do best if they fan out? Lovely plants - these are the pink ones from last year - they bloomed well despite having been divided the fall before, into 4 different plants. I expect them to be much bigger this Spring because the pink ones get huge. I have a pic of the white one but not on this computer. I expect a bigger show on that one this Spring too.
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Bare rootstock in a plastic bag can be planted in a pot for now. Make sure what you buy is still "fleshy" and not dried up and brittle. In fact, and as a back up plan, Dicentra Spectabilis is pretty commonly available from the Big boxes to good garden centers and they tend to be reasonably priced and grown to the point where they would/should bloom this season. You should be able to find one grown plant for the price of your two rootstock pieces.) Get a good potting mix and you can probably put both pieces of root in one 10" pot. Plant @ 2" deep. Water but do not soak and keep the potted up rootstock in the garage until the appropriate time for outdoor planting in your zone. Protect the container from any more extreme cold you might still get by wrapping it with insulation like bubble wrap etc. Just wrap, don't smother it in a closed plastic tent. Once your soil is workable, transplant outside - easy to do when the plants are small and there's less chance for breakage. Shade/part shade is fine for them. I should think the north side of your deck is bright shade as opposed to dense shade? It's a lovely plant, mine started to self seed over the last season or so and I've been getting very transplantable plantlets cropping up here and there.
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Beautiful entryway. Would Thalictrum work?
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Ask away Eileen--that's what we're here for! 10 years ago, I was a newbie. One of the first gardening chores I had to do was divide the beautiful peonies that came with the house. Heart in throat and gardening book in hand, along with advice from my next door neighbor to wait until fall, I went out on a fine October weekend and spent all day digging up, separating, and replanting peonies in a sunnier spot. I was the happiest camper in God's green valley when, the next spring, they sprouted and actually bloomed! I was jumping around in my driveway saying "I didn't kill them! I didn't kill them!" I'm sure all of us have similar stories about our early days in the garden.
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flora2b
11 years ago
Cadence,
If it is like mine and in full shade, it may not dieback. I have a fall blooming purple leafed ligularia in front of my 'goldheart' and variegated hosta in front of my plain green one.
{{gwi:225609}}
Flora
greylady_gardener
11 years ago
beautiful pic!! may I ask what the short pink flowered plant is in front of the ligularia? also there seems to be a shorter blue flowered plant to the right of the hosta (right side of the picture)

Would you have a picture of the same garden a little later in the season? It sure looks nicely put together! :)
flora2b
11 years ago
Thanks,
The pink flowered perennial is Tiarella 'iron butterfly' and the blue flower is Corydalis 'pere david' which does die back after flowering.
Unfortunately, all I have is a distance pic.
{{gwi:225610}}
You can see I circled the bleeding hearts.
Flora
gardenbug
Original Author
11 years ago
OMG - Flora, your garden is absolutely breath-taking. Thank you so much for sharing your pics. Gives me lots of ideas.
mytime
11 years ago
Wow, Flora, absolutely gorgeous! It's the effect I'm striving for, and currently having very little luck.
greylady_gardener
11 years ago
Thank you for letting us know and also for sharing another picture of your gorgeous garden! wow! :)
cziga
11 years ago
I have mine between Hostas and Ferns mostly. Up here, the hostas and ferns leaf out fairly late in the Spring and can take over from the Bleeding Hearts quite nicely.

For me, right now in the garden, Bleeding Hearts are in full bloom and hostas/ferns have popped out of the ground but have yet to completely unfurl and stretch out. The timing is almost perfect :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Mad Dogs and Englishmen
on_greenthumb
11 years ago
Some of my bleeding hearts don't die back, some do. I tend to pair them with hostas. I like the idea of the Ligularia and gold heart. I have my goldheart next to Lovepat hosta. My others are next to Astilbes for the most part....
garystpaul
11 years ago
A great companion to bleeding hearts: brunnera macrophylla (false forget-me-not). I especially like the variegated brunnera with them. Virginia bluebells are also nice (mertensia virginica). Gary
ditas
11 years ago
Breathtaking Flora! ~ Your garden bed is like an altar w/ the majestic pines the Cathedral!
It made me think of what my sister said ~ visiting VanCouver for a few months ~ *It's like heaven here!*

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