![]() Mulch for Winter WarmthĪfter the first hard frost in your area, add a two to three-inch layer of an organic mulch material to the planting site.Ī heavy winter mulching too early in the season can keep your bleeding hearts too warm, resulting in new growth that gets killed with the first hard freeze. Once the first freeze comes, there’s no need to water your bleeding hearts again until the soil thaws in the spring. It might feel strange to water nothing but the soil around a few plant stumps, but you’ll thank yourself come springtime when your bleeding hearts return in full force! ![]() Water the plants as you’ve been doing throughout the growing season, giving them one deep watering a week in the absence of rain until temperatures plunge to 40☏ and below. If you stop watering in late summer or early fall, your plant can suffer from drought stress and this may reduce cold hardiness, says Linda Chalker-Scott, horticulturist at the Washington State University Puyallup Research and Extension Center. The first step to preparing bleeding hearts for chilly weather is to cut them back in the late summer or fall, or whenever the leaves have turned from yellow to brown, and are good and dead. ![]() ![]() In the tips below, we’ll let you know if there’s an adjustment to make based on your area’s growing zone.īefore we begin, a quick word on terminology:Īn average first or last frost date generally refers to either the first night of temperatures at or just under 32☏ in the fall, or the final night of temperatures at or just below 32☏ in the spring.Ī frost caused by temperatures at or just below 32☏ is also called a light freeze, and the cold temperatures generally only last two to three hours.Ī hard frost, also called a hard freeze, occurs when temperatures drop below 28☏ for three to four hours or longer. Keep in mind that bleeding hearts are suited to USDA Hardiness Zones 3 through 9, which can clearly have wildly different weather in terms of the temperature range in the winter. ![]()
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