A Few of My Favorite Things, Part One

When the winter has gone, but spring isn't truly here for us in the North, "I simply remember my favorite (plants) and then I don't feel so bad." Some of my favorites are among a wonderful, thoroughly American group of plants from the Saxifrage family - the Heucheras, Tiarellas and the offspring of their intergeneric cross, x Heucherella.

Where many highly popular plants are imports from Europe and Asia, these beauties are our gift to the gardeners of the rest of the world. There are more than 50 species of Heuchera in North American and they fill niches from the hot, humid Southeast to the alpine heights of the Rocky Mountains. Among them are many that will happily live in our northern gardens. Four of the five species of Tiarella are natives too. X Heucherella is a man-made cross that doesn't grow wild anywhere, but is at home in most situations that suit its parents.

The Heucheras are commonly called coral bells and are very happy in full sun or light shade at our latitude. Their low, mounding habit makes them an asset for the front of the border. Though I like them in an informal setting, they would make very nice edgings for more formal plantings.

Heucheras, Tiarellas and x Heucherella have enjoyed an explosion in recent breeding work and public interest. As recently as the 1980s most Heuchera were still propagated from seed. Some had rather plain leaves, but lovely flowers ranging from red through pink to white. They were promoted as a perennial you would want to plant because it could also be used as a cut flower. A few had ornamental foliage, but their flowers were usually an uninspiring greenish or yellowish. There was little enthusiasm for either.

All of that is still true of most seed grown varieties, but now they are in great demand because the breeders have developed cultivars with absolutely drop dead gorgeous foliage. Many of these have the added bonus of great flowers that can still be good cuts, if you can bring yourself to do so.

The trend seems to have begun with the discovery of Heuchera 'Palace Purple' in a planting at Kew Gardens in England. It has large, maple-shaped leaves of a glossy burgundy. The flowers are not attractive and you may want to just cut them off to prevent self-seeding. There is disagreement over its parentage so you might see it listed as H. americana, H. micrantha or some hybrid of these two. It was originally propagated mainly from seed, but the offspring are so variable that many plants being sold under this name are often an inferior shade of bronze or bronzy-green instead of the rich purple-bronze of the original selection. I have two plants so different that they appear to be different cultivars, but both came from the same seed cohort of 'Palace Purple'. Look for plants that have been vegetatively propagated or hand select your own from among a large group of seed-grown ones to get the best.

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