Bleeding heart: 8 beautiful pairing ideas

Illuminate a dark flowerbed

With its abundant flowering of white, pink, or red bells, the Bleeding Heart enlivens dull corners in partial shade, bringing colour, volume, and light from the beginning of spring.

Positioned at the edge of a border under the beneficial shade of large trees, mixed with broad and graphic foliage that will take over in the height of summer, it will be surrounded by ferns with bright green or purple foliage (Female Fern ‘Red Beauty’), hostas (Hosta ‘Big Daddy’), euphorbias amygdaloides var. robbiae with a very refreshing spring flowering, or a Euphorbia characias ‘Glacier Blue’. Prefer the white varieties of Dicentra (‘Alba‘ or ‘Ivory Hearts‘) to subtly brighten this foliage environment.

Athyrium niponicum pictum ‘Red Beauty’ – Dicentra spectabilis ‘Ivory Hearts’ – Euphorbia characias ‘Glacier Blue’ – Hosta ‘Big Daddy’

To create a beautiful spring scene

For an opulent and fresh decor, pair Bleeding Heart with a profusion of small flowers forming a tapetum, such as brunneras, lily of the valley, wood lilies, primroses, dwarf cyclamens, pink or white tulips, and daffodils. Foxgloves, hellebores, peonies, and columbines rising in the background will create a perfect setting for this delicately floral corner.

Brunnera macrophylla – Primula vulgaris – Dicentra spectabilis – Daffodil

In a symphony of foliage with ferns

Ferns are the ideal companion plant for the Bleeding Heart, creating associations that rely entirely on the interplay of finely cut foliage. The glaucous leaves of Dicentra ‘Ivory Hearts’ or D. ‘Burning Hearts®’ will weave between the bright green fronds of a male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas). Dicentra spectabilis ’Goldheart®’, the golden Bleeding Heart, very bright with its golden-yellow foliage, will shine alongside Dryopteris erythrosora, a fern with a lovely coppery colour. These woodland perennials will create lush displays punctuated with bright pink or pure white bells.

Foliage of Dicentra Burning Hearts® – Dryopteris erythrosora – Dicentra spectabilis Goldheart® – Dryopteris filix-mas

In a simple and fresh white garden

White varieties, such as Dicentra ‘Ivory Hearts’ with bluish-green leaves and ivory white spur flowers or D. s. ‘Alba’ complete a white garden and harmoniously pair with metallic or green tones (ferns, hostas, lady’s mantle, variegated Solomon’s seal, grasses…). It will look wonderful surrounded at its base by hellebores or daffodils of immaculate whiteness. Foxgloves (‘purpurea Alba’), Astilbe arendsii ‘Bumalda’ with long white plumes, astrantias, elf flowers, arborescent hydrangea, cimicifuga racemosa, and shrub peonies will seamlessly take turns at the heart of this bed that plays with monochrome.

Dicentra spectabilis alba – Hosta Emily Dickinson – Epimedium pauciflorum – Polygonatum multiflorum

To add a touch of whimsy to an English mixed border

Bleeding Heart is a must-have in English cottage mixed borders, bringing originality and elegance. Plant shrub peonies or a hedge of hydrangeas in the background, and they will create a delightful setting. Low varieties, such as Dicentra formosa ‘Aurora’, used as a ground cover, will be better suited for narrow flower beds.

Mixed with astrantias, lady’s mantle, columbines, hellebores, perennial geraniums, astilbes, pulmonarias, and foxgloves, the varieties ‘Stuart Boothman’ or ‘Aurora’ are beautiful assets in this style of densely planted border.

Alchemilla mollis – Aquilegia ‘Nora Barlow’ – Perennial geranium versicolor – Dicentra formosa Aurora

To bring out the pink!

Dare to create a striking combination of bold tones by pairing a Bleeding Heart ‘Burning Hearts®’, ‘Bacchanal’ with carmine red flowers, or even a D. ‘Luxuriant’ with its purplish-pink flowering, alongside a Cape Fuchsia with vermilion or purple flowers.

Next to a Red Comfrey, an Digitalis mertonensis with large raspberry-pink flowers, a magenta pink Chinese astilbe, an Bergenia purpurascens, an astrantia with lilac flowers, a ‘Black Barlow’ columbine, purple creeping Bugle, or the pink inflorescences of a Japanese Spiraea, it will create a stunning effect.

The red varieties will also be beautifully paired with the strong or warm colours of a perennial geranium ‘Bob’s Blunder’ or a Spigelia marilandica with bright red tubular flowers.

Grey foliage (such as artemisias, hostas…) adds a softness that harmonises well with this range of pink hues.

Dicentra Burning Hearts® – Bergenia ‘Abendglut’ – Symphytum rubrum – Astrantia major ‘Hadspen Blood’

In shades of blue and grey

Alongside a beautiful ‘Hosta tardiana ‘Halcyon’ with its glaucous leaves adorned with metallic reflections, the glaucous hue of the leaves of a Dicentra ‘Stuart Boothman’ will enhance all azure-flowering plants: the pure blue of Caucasian forget-me-nots, periwinkles, the deep purple of an Iris sibirica, or the intense blue of an Ajuga insica ‘Frosted Jade’ (incised bugle). A guaranteed effect also in the vicinity of a bright blue Chinese Corydalis that forms a lovely carpet of electric blue tubular flowers or Omphalodes Cappadocica ‘Cherry Ingram’ with its deep blue flowering.

Ajuga incisa ‘Frosted Jade’ – Hosta tardiana ‘Halcyon’ – Corydalis flexuosa – Omphalodes Cappadocica Cherry Ingram

With summer-flowering perennials

When its foliage disappears in mid-summer, the Bleeding Heart leaves an unsightly gap: to avoid a bare patch, pair it with Astrances, Japanese Anemones, Silver Candles, perennial Geraniums with light flowering. Also consider combining it with non-flowering species such as ferns and grasses that will create a backdrop of evergreen or semi-evergreen greenery.

Geranium nodosum ‘Le Clos du Coudray’ – Carex – Anemone ‘Ruffled Swan’ – Cimicifuga racemosa