bleeding heart, flaming heart, heart flower - Dicentra spectabilis (sometimes also Lamprocapnos spectabilis) is a perennial perennial with very showy, two-tone flowers that has long been cultivated in cottage and ornamental gardens. Although the plant, which comes from Northeast Asia, is very sensitive to frost, it can still overwinter outdoors without any problems.
How do you let a bleeding heart hibernate in the garden in winter?
The bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis) can overwinter outdoors as it retreats into the underground rhizome after flowering. Plants grown in containers should be stored cool, frost-free or isolated outdoors. New shoots in spring require additional frost protection.
Perennial retreats in summer
Although the bleeding heart is not exactly winter-hardy, it still does not need to be dug out of the garden in autumn and overwintered under protected conditions. The reason for this lies in the perennial's peculiarity of retreating almost completely into the underground rhizome after the flowering period and surviving the winter there - protected by the layer of earth. Only the tender shoots in spring require additional protection so that they do not freeze in the late frosts.
Overwintering a bleeding heart in a bucket
It looks different with the specimens cultivated in planters. These should either be kept under cold house conditions (i.e. in a cool but frost-free place) or wrapped with an insulating material (e.g. B. raffia mats (€22.00 on Amazon) or fleece) to overwinter outdoors.
Tip
Since the plant withdraws in time, pruning to prepare for winter is not necessary.
