A late addition to my list

...or hurray for heucheras

For a couple of years, I've asked VolMom to buy me a book on heucheras (aka coral bells) for Christmas. She didn't. Not her fault though as the book simply did not exist.

Now it does.

It's probably too late for this year. But I did see Heucheras and Heucherellas on sale last week. I almost bought it for VolMom, but didn't because she's actually not that fond of them. And I could have seen myself saying "if you don't want that I'll take it", which really isn't in the spirit of the season.

Heucheras and heucherellas (a cross between heuchera and tiarellas -the foam flower) are increasing in popularity in the UK and my guess would be also in the US (where the major breeding programs are).

Native to North America, they are a hardy, decorative foliage plant with less than spectacular blooms. When I worked for Oakes Nursery in Knoxville these many years ago, there were basically two varieties - green foliage with small pink blossoms and burgundy foliage with white flowers. Multiple small bell shaped flowers are borne on racemes which extend above the basal foliage mound. They were, frankly, kind of dull but useful in areas of partial shade.

Now there is an amazing assortment of heucheras and heucherellas. They come in a variety of colors from bright chartreuse (Key Lime Pie) and a rich pinky-gold (Amber Waves) to deep reddy purple (Plum Pudding). A number have silvery variegation against a purple foliage color (Pewter Moon). Some work has also gone into improved blooms with slightly larger flowers or more intense coloration. My current advice is not to be tempted too much by these as the blooms aren't really worth it. For example my H. Ring of Fire does have blossoms in a deeper red, but they are often overpowered by other brighter, prettier flowers in the vicinity.

Really, it's best to collect heucheras for their foliage. They are a reliable border plant and stay looking good through most winters. I’ve hardly even touched on heucherellas, but my favourite is Kimono – and I think they actually have a nicer bloom and more striking leaf variegation, but there isn’t really the huge variety of collectible cultivars… yet.

Oddly enough, despite the fact that much of the breeding and development is going on in the US, I can get new cultivars through the Royal Horticultural Society plant shows quicker than most of these varieties are available at commercial nurseries in the US.

In UK gardens, heucheras can be susceptible to vine weevil (especially paler varieties like Amber Waves and I have lost two to this scourge). But their main advantage is that slugs and snails don't like them. These nasty gastropods are the bane of my gardening life.