This Year's Heuchera

As you know, I love Heuchera, also known as coral bells or alumroot. It's almost always grown for the foliage rather than the flowers. Gardeners have tinkered with it for centuries, and there are hundreds of varieties across the maybe 40 species. The species intergrade naturally, let alone with the help of breeders, so attaching an exact species name to any plant may be tough. However, the varieties are usually patented by various companies. The genus is named for Johann Heinrich von Heucher, a German physician of the 18th century.

This year, I saw a couple new ones at the Philadelphia Flower Show, and there was also a small garden vendor at the Expo this past weekend, and they had three more.

This is 'Ball Gown,' at the Expo. The leaves are large and a clear green. That's a little unusual- there is often some variation of color from the center of the leaf to the edge.

This is one with dark purple leaves called 'Wildberry,' also at the Expo.

This one is from the Flower Show, and I like it a lot. The plant seems to have been drenched in dappled sunlight because the leaves vary from bright green to almost yellow. Its variety is 'Citronelle.'

Back to the Expo. This specimen isn't very full, and it may look a bit faded in the picture. It's one of the many, many attempts to approach black with the leaf color. It's by Grande (TM) and is just called 'Black' with the hybrid number TNHEUGB. Pictures on the company web site are much darker. Of course, this is the risk with cultivars... what you get may not be quite what the pictures looked like or what you hoped.

I've saved the best for last, although it's actually a cross between a Heuchera and a Tiarella, called a Heucherella. The variety is 'Solar Power.' I've actually run across this one before, but this display was gorgeous. I may not previously have realized it was a cross between two genera, so that is my new fact for today.

I'm actively getting ready to leave for the trail. Later this week!

See Heuchera