Wild Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia)

Native Range: Eastern United States
Zone: 3 to 9
Height: 1.00 to 1.50 feet
Spread: 1.00 to 1.50 feet
Bloom Time: April to July
Bloom Description: Rose pink to purplish red
Sun: Part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Naturalize
Flower: Showy, Good Cut
Tolerate: Rabbit
 
Easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soil in part shade. Prefers moist, humusy soils. Intolerant of wet soils in winter and dry soils in summer. Naturalizes by self-seeding in favorable environments.
Dicentra eximia, commonly called fringed bleeding heart, is a native wildflower of the eastern United States that typically occurs on forest floors, rocky woods and ledges in the Appalachian Mountains. Features deeply-cut, fern-like, grayish-green, foliage which persists throughout the growing season and pink to purplish red, nodding, heart-shaped flowers carried above the foliage on long, leafless, leaning stems. Protruding inner petals of the flower appear to form a drop of blood at the bottom of each heart-shaped flower (hence the common name of bleeding heart). Plant typically grows to 15" tall, with the flower stems and basal leaves growing directly out of the scaly rootstock. Bloom begins in late spring. In cooler climates, flowering may continue throughout the summer, but in the hotter climates, the flowering will generally stop in hot weather, with a possible rebloom occurring only when the weather cools in late summer or early fall. Similar in appearance to the showy, old garden bleeding heart from Asia, D. spectabilis, except D. spectabilis is taller and wider, its flowers are larger and its foliage is less dissected and usually goes dormant by mid-summer.