Amateur Gardening – 20 July 2019

18 AMATEUR GARDENING 20 JULY 2019

Heuchera

The heuchera tribe – including tiarella and heucherella – promises a kaleidoscope of

colourful foliage and dainty petals. Anne explains how to master these prolific perennials

C

OVERING the ground between

shrubs and larger perennials is

the aim of busy gardeners, to

blot out light and prevent weed

growth. Soil is shaded, cutting down on

the evaporation of precious moisture,

and wildlife can flourish. Invertebrate

mini-beasts proliferate in shade and

shelter, creating food for frogs, toads,

newts, slow worms and birds. In turn,

these reduce numbers of slugs and

snails. For semi-shade, hardy geraniums,

alchemilla and Symphytum ‘Goldsmith’

are great choices, but they die back for

winter. Enter the heucheras: an ever-

expanding tribe of evergreen or semi-

evergreen, clump-forming perennials

with their origins in North America.

They belong to the saxifrage family,

and adaptations to the rocky, shaded

woodlands of their natural home make

them well suited to our gardens. Mounds

of light-excluding foliage are joined by

stems of small flowers in early summer.

Their common name is alum root,

though nobody seems to use it. Alum

(aluminium potassium sulphate) is

used to stop bleeding, and the roots

of heuchera species had similar uses

in herbal medicine.

Years ago, we’d grow plain-leaved

Heuchera sanguinea ‘Coral Bells’. Then,

during the 1980s, H. villosa ‘Palace

Purple’ was all the rage, and it is still

appreciated for its show of metallic purple

leaves and small pink flowers. Yet these

early cultivars have been superseded

by recent breeding, bringing us a wealth

of new hybrids with colourful leaf tones.

Wild at heart

Personally, I find some of the gaudier

heucheras heavy on the eye and, for my

wilder style of gardening, I prefer close

relative Tellima grandiflora, known as

fringe cups. Evergreen tiarella (foam

flowers) are great, too; American breeders

have produced many cultivars with lively

leaves. T. ‘Candy Striper’ is especially

lovely, with pyramids of pink buds

opening to white flowers over black-

veined, deeply indented foliage.

If you want colour, try the evergreen

hybrids between heuchera and tiarella,

known as heucherella. There’s the gold

of ‘Catching Fire’, plummy orange of

‘Citrus Shock’ and divine medieval

green and purple of ‘Tapestry’.

How to grow...

Tiarellas like ‘Candy Striper’ are called

foam fl owers due to their frothy blooms

Heuchera

Tellima grandifl ora is low maintenance and, by self-seeding,

has maintained its own colony here in an east-facing border

for the last 20 years. It dies back for winter, but looks great

fl owering among stems of Persicaria ‘Red Dragon’

Heuchera ‘Southern Comfort’, with its cinnamon

and peachy tones, makes an excellent addition

Heuchera sanguinea The scarlet spikes of to beds, borders and rock gardens

‘Firefl y’, an ideal

perennial for an

herbaceous

border

Plantagogo.com

The heuchera tribe grow

well in pots, but are best

potted on or root-pruned

every spring. This keeps

plants fresh and brings a

chance to check for

vine weevils.