When to sow bleeding hearts in Naples

Why these dates

Plant dormant crowns in autumn or very early spring, 5cm deep. Site it where the summer dieback will not leave a visible hole - behind a hosta or a fern is the usual answer. Do not water it in the hope of keeping the foliage; the dormancy is deliberate.

Hardy to -35C. Emerging shoots are brittle and damaged by hard late frosts, though the plant recovers. Requires a cold winter and does not grow well above zone 8.

Bleeding hearts are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Naples is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.

Naples sits in zone 9b, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.

Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 2, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.

See every crop timed for Naples →