A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Landscape trials and triumphs Gardening in the Shade Bleeding Heart

This topic may have been addressed before but I haven't been around for a long time so thought I would go ahead and bring it up.

I planted a start of an old fashioned pink bleeding heart in my shade bed under a maple tree almost 4 years ago. A friend who is local gave it to me. It grows every year to about 6 inches high and has maybe 2 shoots and no blooms. Another friend told me it would take 3 years for the plant to start doing well but last summer was the 3rd year and it did the same thing it always does. I was afraid of over fertilizing so I cut way back this past year as we have nice black loam for soil, full of worms. I deep water about once per week except during the hot dry weather in July/August and then I water more often. It doesn't have any bug problems and I haven't found slugs or other pests. I have bark mulch about 2 inches deep. The hostas, lupine, ice plant and coral bells in the same bed are all doing spectacular. Do I just need to start over or should I keep trying with this little plant?

Thanks....

fernie, welcome home. i don't know what kind of maple, but i do know that there are shade loving plants that WILL NOT grow under maples or pines. i don't have much of a maple problem, but i've got pines out the wazzoo!

I knew walnut trees didn't let a lot grow under them but I didn't know maples would also affect plants. It's just a standard maple tree...I have 3 actually across the western yard to help shade the house in the afternoons. Wonder if I should transplant the bleeding heart to somewhere else?

It's nice to be back....thanks!

the roots near the top of the soil are mainly for taking up water (whereas the taproots and deeper roots are used for anchoring the tree). Maybe it's a water issue..maybe a bit more water?? i guess pine trees shed needles and make the surrounding soil acidic. bleeding hearts need fairy loose soil or else the 'rhizome' won't be able to grow (they are rather brittle and can't push through compacted soils). I don't kno whow your climate is, but everything's covered in two feet of snow here...if you can, move it somewhere...the only way to see results is to go ahead and try

the soil around pines gets so compacted and the needles do make everything acidic. so things with week roots just don't grow.

and here, maples are weed trees they come up everywhere. and not much grows where they come up. we mow them like weeds/grass.

oh, i should have said, ours are silver leaf maples.

I guess I will move it come spring then. Right now it is under a foot of snow but wondering what to do about that underperforming plant has been much on my mind. Especially since everything else around it does so very well. Thanks for all the input.

I sure never thought of a maple as a weed tree but actually that is what a type of locust tree is here....a weed tree that we mow down at every opportunity.

I didn't know that maples had this problem too. I know that pines do and eucalyptus too. Sycamore leaves need to be picked up and shredded because they will choke out anything they can and they don't degrade well for self-composting.

Silver maples are notorious water hogs!