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Heuchera - Fantastical Foliage

© Marge Talt

In the last few years, we foliage nuts with shady gardens have been blessed by plant breeders, such as Dan Heims of Terra Nova Nurseries, who have given us the marvelous new foliage Heuchera to play with.

To be sure, Heuchera have been around for years. Alan Bloom's Bressingham Gardens, in the UK, have been hybridizing H. sanguinea (coralbells), H. micrantha (alumroot) and possibly H. americana (rock geranium) for years to achieve larger flower trusses with better color. There are many named cultivars of these x brizoides available. I've not grown them for some reason, but 'Chatterbox', and the mixed 'Bressingham Hybrids' are old familiar names in seed and plant catalogs.

There are between thirty-five and fifty species of Heuchera, mostly native to cliffs, hills and mountains of western North America. Of these, only a few form the nucleus of our garden ornamentals. Others are grown in rock or wild gardens, if they can be found. One, Heuchera micrantha (crevice alumroot), native to California, is listed on the Edible Sierra Nevada Plants pages as follows: "The spring leaves are edible boiled or steamed. The root eaten raw will usually cure diarrhea." Interesting, but I'm not sure I'd add it to my menu or pharmacopoeia. One more factoid - Heuchera tolerate juglone and will grow under black walnut trees.

All Heuchera share a similarity in conformation, with leaves and stems having fine bristly hairs, making them a bit rough to the touch. The ones in my collection (even those with green leaves) have a red cast to the stems; very pronounced in those with red or purple foliage. Plants are mounding in form, ranging from one to three feet (0.3 - 1 m) in diameter and one to one and a half feet (0.3 - 0.45 m) in height. Wiry flower stems tower above the foliage rosettes, some reaching over two feet (0.60 m) in height. The flower stems start out upright, but tend to arch over as they mature - at least on the plants in my USDA zone 7 garden.

Individual flowers are minute (this one belongs to H. americana 'Ruby Veil'); born in quantity on racemes or panicles of bloom. In those bred for their flowers, the color and quantity of the tiny blossoms makes quite a show. Those who are primarily foliage plants produce fairly insignificant blooms - interesting, but nothing to write home about, as you can see from the photo of 'Plum Pudding' above.

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