Most books recommend dividing bleeding hearts in the early spring. However, I also have huge clumps and have divided and moved them around up until July. They looked like they were dying after I did this and went dormant despite some (infrequent) watering, but next spring they all came back healthy and bloomed. My experience is that these are very robust plants. I'm not very attached to mine (they seed around like crazy and I'm continually pulling them out) so I didn't take any particular care. It is only after they start blooming that they get so gigantic that it made me want to divide them up. If you want to be more careful, you can wait until early next spring. Books also say to be careful with their brittle roots, but I just took a shovel and sliced them up and any parts that looked like they had some roots attached, I planted. As I said, despite this brutal treatment in weather that was getting rather hot, they all did fine.

Lisa is right. You can divide them anytime before they go dormant--which varies with how hot the weather is. The roots are brittle, so be sure you get a big enough piece when you divide. I just slice them in half or thirds and move them to where I want them. They will not look nice for the rest of the season, but will come up fine in spring. Hostas can be divided anytime during the summer too; they too are tough plants. I do the same thing as above--slice through the whole plant with a spade, dig out the half you want and fill the hole with dirt. Again, they will look lop-sided for the rest of the summer, but wil come up well-shaped next spring. I usually wait until later in the summer to divide mine (when I don't have too many visitors coming to see the garden)Good luck!

Wow, I didn't realize bleeding heart got so big. I will have to get some next year.

Kim

It is my understanding the "rule" for dividing is dependant on bloom time. Since Bleeding Hearts bloom in early spring, I would not divide them in spring. Divide any time after they bloom. I usually wait until I see the first sign of them dying back. You will have to mark where you put them as most likely they will fade all the faster after you divide them. This way you can add other things to your bed also. Bop over to the Hosta forum and put dividing Hosta into the search window. You will have more advice then you need.

If I divide the bleeding hearts now, while they are in bloom, how deep do I have to dig so I do not break the stems? Is there a main root down in the ground? Like an Iris? Or is it more like each stalk has fine roots?

I just moved the seedlings around - like everyone else, they stayed puny last year (one went dormant) but it year, both of the seedlings I moved last year are about 18" to 30" tall and flowering like anything!!!

My goldheart is not as big (it's 3 years old) but the colour more than made up for it. My fern leaf one is coming back VERY slowly....

• You won't have any problem dividing this for your daughter. I had bleeding hearts at my home that was flooded in 2011. The plants were under 6ft of water for over a week. When things dried out and we found a new place to live I went back and dug up some perennials. My bleeding hearts and lady ferns were moved to my new home and have thrived so much that at I now need to thin the bleeding hearts. They are tough as nails!!!!! On another note....my peonies and roses that you would think would be more hardy did not survive the flood.

My bleeding hearts are the white and red. They didn't come back until July. I have several vines growing where I had planted one last spring. I'm in SC ... Has anyone ever seen this happen before?

Yes, depending on the climate when you plant them they may go dormant for a season or even a year. Bleeding Hearts are very hardy and can withstand a lot. They usually will survive.

I just realized mine's a vine.

Mary, can you post a photo of your plant? There is a climbing bleeding heart, Dicentra scandens, but it has yellow flowers. Red and white flowers would mark it as belonging to Lamprocapnos spectabilis (formerly Dicentra spectabilis) whiz is a non-climbing herbaceous perennial.

Question I was always told that if you didn’t divide a bleeding heart or Hosta when the got to big that sooner or later the plant would end up dying if it got to big is this true?

No Violetta. People usually divide a plant because it gets too large for the allotted space. I have had both growing for decades without division.

Thank you!