Heuchera Health

I'm trying the next possible way to get Facebook to pull through a picture. This suggestion says to put a picture before any text. Let's see if this works.

Today's post is going to be a report on all my various Heuchera. It will be long, because I now have quite a nice collection! The picture above is one of the new ones this year called 'Smoke and Mirrors.' It looks really good.

On the other hand, I think, with no regrets, I'm going to give up on the very first one I bought about 30 years ago. It's the very common 'Purple Palace.' One year it got about twice this big, but it just never was able to thrive. Who knows why? I have a very pretty Heucheralla picked out to put in the space, but I need to not buy any more plants for a while. At least any that cost more than a couple of bucks.

This is another common one, 'Caramel.' Because it's common, I thought I didn't want one, but I decided it would look really good in this spot, and I was right.

In general, I've tried not to have any duplicates, but I did split the 'Caramel.' The piece was quite small, but I think it's going to live. I know it doesn't look great, but it is alive.

The other one I have several of is 'Firefly.' I love the bright green of the leaves and the flowers are actually showy enough to enjoy. You can see one of the late ones still in this picture taken today.

'Midnight Rose' has darkened. The pink spots don't show up as well as earlier in the season, but I suspect that this is normal. It also looks good except for a few leaves that got a bit too much sun. I kept them out of the picture.

This one is'Seasons King.'

Which contrasts nicely with 'Carnival Cinnamon Stick.'

Here's the first one I bought other than the ill-fated 'Purple Palace.' This is 'Cathedral Windows.' It almost died from the days when the animals browsed through the gardens at will. They killed quite a few nice plants. But this came back.

When I put in 'Caramel,' I moved 'Peach Flambe' to a new location. It's not really happy there and has gotten smaller. I'll need to watch it. The light is too dappled for a good picture, but I like the color a lot. It was the first one I bought in 2023 when I started trying to spiff up this garden bed.

Another that I bought, maybe later the same year was 'Electric Plum.' It is also brighter earlier in the season. But it, too, has gotten smaller, and it's one of my favorites, so I'll need to watch it. When the light shines through the leaves they really do seem electric.

Also purchased in 2023 was 'Dark Knight,' which is naturally smaller, but I really like the shape of the leaves.

I think there's just one other, which is 'Amber Lady.' It stays fairly red all season.

So how many different ones is this? Not counting 'Purple Palace,' it's eleven different ones. Of course, I have picked out a couple others I want. Eventually... not right away!

I said today was going to be a rest day, and I enforced that except for truly minimal putzing in the gardens. Mostly I read books. Tomorrow I need to get back in gear.

See Front Garden Report #1- 2024

Holland Centennial Park Gardens

 I thought I showed you some pix last year of the gardens at the park where the Art in the Park vendor event is held, but apparently not. They are very nice!

The gardens are dedicated to L. Frank Baum because his family cottage was nearby, and it is believed that he wrote a fair amount of The Wizard of Oz while at the cottage. The book is a frame covered with 6000 plants. It is taken inside every winter.

I'll only show you a few of the garden beds. There were many! This one has several kinds of hosta - big ones- a purple heuchera, and a border of begoinias.

I love this! It's a very light-colored Hakone grass with really dark heuchera.

One whole garden was edged with alternate coleus and begonias.

Mass plantings of zinneas were bright! This has a racemed hydrangea behind it.

This was also one of my favorites. This is two different kinds of coleus both in the Flamethrower series. The red is 'Adobo Pink' and the green is 'Salsa Verde.'

I did OK at the event. The weater was cool (good), but drippy with sprinkles (hard to manage books, and lower attendance). The worst was I had a stomach ache all afternoon. Only a minimal clue why. Pretty much gone now.

I am declaring tomorrow a mostly rest day.

I may have figured out how to force Facebook to post a picture. We'll see. Of course it's a pain in the butt.

See Hemlock Crossing and More

Mason County Garden Club Tour 2026

It's been several years since I was actually home when the Mason County Garden Club Tour was being held, but this year it all worked out. The stops this year were all in Ludington.

This is a special year for the Club-- it is their 100th Anniversary, and also the 24th Garden Tour they have hosted. Because of this, 4 of the 7 sites were at public locations the club maintains, and one of those had a craft you could make. I may talk about those another day, but I want to focus on the 3 private gardens.

Here is a nice walkway corner. It's edged with the Donkeytail Euphorbia and filled with a petunia planter.

This garden had mostly traditional plantings and groupings, but it was nicely done. The owner mentioned the gardners' war with the urban deer (her fencing was removed for this tour), and ironically enough, I saw a doe and two fawns just around the corner, cruisin' for a snack.

This was my favorite, and it turns out I know the owner. This is just one view of the garden... it's filled with quirky garden art, different levels, and little nooks tucked between buildings and hedges and stuffed with plants.

Now I'll show you a few of my favorite plants, or pairings of plants.

This is another Heuchera- 'Changeling'- that I like a lot.

And here is a beautiful coleus planter. Coleus is a lot like the heuchera- they come in an amazing variety of colors and shapes. But they are annuals. (You may recall I tried to keep some over the winter- I had a little success which you'll see one day soon)

This is a really nice pairing of a coleus and a heuchera. Of course no one seems to keep track of the names of any of these cultivars, which you know I want to know.

Here is, perhaps, my favorite of the day. This is a begonia from a patented series called Space Age, possibly 'Black Hole.' Of course, I can't start playing with begonias unless I magically sprout a greenhouse, or at least more space with good light, to keep them over the winter.

We did not know where the gardens were located until we bought the tickets at the start. I had thought I'd walk as much of the route as I could since the day was not blistering hot. And after seeing the map, I decided I could walk the whole thing. 4.6 miles.

Did a little editing and some cleaning up at home.

Miles walked in 2026: 223.7
Miles walked for the Onekama Challenge: 35.5

See Mason County Garden Club Tour 2018

Front Garden Report 2026- #1

A lot has happened in the front garden beds this year. Several of the new plants went in various places, and I moved some things and split a couple of plants.

This is the west section, the one that is more established. I tried to get a picture from a little different angle to show all of it that's behind the rose bush better.

There are 8 different Heucheras in there (7 of them healthy- I really should just give up on the other one- it's still 2" high after 30 years), 6 or 7 different Hostas, 3 different Brunnera, and a few other things, but those are the primary last-all-season foliage colors.

That was a top down view. The little walkway I added last year is right at the bottom of the picture, so here's a different angle to show what's between the walkway and the house, which is 'Krossa Regal' Hosta, and the Japanese fern which the woodchuck ate last year, but it recovered completely.

I need to reduce the size of the patches of the two rather blah and small hosta. They are nice fillers, but now they have filled too much.

Now for the east end, beyond the white birch tree. This is the part I've worked on quite a lot this year. I'll give you the plant IDs, so that will help me remember what's supposed to be where too.

Starting at the lower left and going up along that board edging, we have a 'Jack Frost' Brunnera, 'Season's King' Heuchera, 'Wiggles and Squiggles' Hosta, a small 'Caramel' Heuchera that I just split off today (we'll see if I got enough roots for it to survive), and behind that the piece of Japanese fern that I put there last year which is doing fine, but it's a little small yet.

The brighter pink Heuchera is 'Carnival Cinnamon Stick' with the 'Forbidden Fruit' Hosta behind it, and the feathery Astilbe behind that. Not sure if that will be pink or white. Maybe I'll get those labeled this year.

Next to the Astilbe is the new 'Midnight Rose' Heuchera, and going along the walkway is another small Astilbe.

Come back to center front and there is the new 'Smoke and Mirrors' Heuchera. Just above that are 3 blue hostas from Ester (unknown variety- 2 medium size and one tiny). In the middle of those is a 'Wiggles and Squiggles' I split off last week. It seems to be holding its own. And in the front with two-tone green leaves is one I just brought back from Ester. We can't seem to find the variety. The one the plant apps want it to be she says she never had.

There are some lilies shooting up and the 'Francie' Hosta in the back.

Front flower bed casualties: I've already mentioned the Icelandic Poppies. Also, sadly, the 'Winky' Columbine did not come back. I thought it was going to be ok because it had survived one winter. And I also had tried another 'Blue Clips' Campanula. Not even a hint of it. I think this is my fourth try with that one, all in different places. I think I'll quit wanting that onw. Just at the very bottom right corner of the picture you can see part of the 'Mouse Ears' Hosta. I moved it again because it seems to really want no sun at all or it gets burned. Right now it looks good, but it's so tiny it will have to have both shade and be in a visible spot. And, inexplicably, the 'Vulcan' Hosta hasn't come back this year.

I did a minimal amount of work today. My body said that after three days of intense activity it wanted a rest.

See Front Garden Report 2025- #2

Some of the New Plants

I'm still waiting for one of the plants that I bought with the gift from the Confidence Camp friends, but I need to get the rest of them in the ground, so I'm going ahead with showing you these. Here's the pile.

Two of them are Heuchera that I've never seen before. You know I'm always looking for things that are a little out of the ordinary.

The first is 'Smoke and Mirrors,' with lovely gray leaves.

And this is the one I paid full price for, but I just had to get it. Look at the spots! This is 'Midnight Rose.'

I put both of these at the east end of the front bed, moved a couple of the small blue hosta (unknown variety), and split a small piece off the 'Wiggles and Squiqqles,' that I hope will grow. I think I'm going to have to move one of the ones I planted last year to show it off better, but we'll see. This space is definitely progressing toward looking good.

Now for three new Sedums. Well, I'm trying again with the 'Blue Pearl.' I do think I've got the correct plant this time. These came from a reputable garden supply rather than an eBay seller. (Bluestone Perennials- and by the way, these came packaged extraordinarily well). It's going into the same space where I had the one that got eaten. Daffodil leaves there, but they will die back soon.

The other two are color variations of the 'Coraljade' Sedum that I've been so happy with. Here's a reminder of what that one looks like this week. It's a patented hybrid.

And what its flowers look like- the flowering season is very long lasting, and it constantly changes tones. Here is a picture of it blooming last year.

So when I found out that there are two other colors of the same hybrid, I decided to get them. This one is 'Banana Split.' Its flowers will be shades of pale yellow.

And this one is called 'Peach Pearls,' and the flowers are supposed to be a peachy orange.

Stay tuned for progress, but these seem pretty safe since their close relatives have been so successful.

I did a lot of good stuff today- editing and cleaning the kitchen in addition to garden playing. Gave the rock garden a drink.

Looking at plant records from last year, there were a lot of casualties. That doesn't make me happy, but it's all a learning experience.

See New Plants 2025

Bright Pink

Today we will focus on bright pink. First, the two best successes. This is the Dianthus 'Kahori,' purchased in 2023. It has continued to spread by at least a third each year. Look at it go!

The other one I'm quite happy with is the Sea Thrift 'Morning Star Deep Rose.' It is just loaded with flowers.

The other Sea Thrift is struggling. It is a smaller plant, but it only has one flower so far. Last year it had two. This is 'Dusseldorf Pride.' I think there might be too much clay in the spot where it is. That edge of the garden needs some soil amendment. The leaves look like the other one. This close view of the flower came out pretty well, so I'm using it.

Now for the weird one. This is the Bloody Cranesbill geranium. It doesn't look this color at all in real life. It's pretty much the same color as the Sea Thrift, but the camera doesn't see it that way. I tried to get a better look inside a flower. This is blooming all over.

Final show-off for the day is the 'Firefly' Heuchera in the front bed. This is about the only heuchera flower that I think is worth bothering with. The color is lovely and contrasts with the green leaves.

The temperature and humidity were much better today! For my outside work I concentrated on trimming the grass on the edges of the rock garden and cleaning out the spaces between boards in our wooden sidewalk. I'm not quite done but made good progress.

See Pink and White

A Few Re-Bloomers

A few more plants delightfully refuse to admit that the blooming season is over.

The Fleeceflower often gives me a few fall flowers. Only one so far this year, and it's short. But that's OK. This is not my favorite plant, but for now, it's fine.

I really love this one. This is the 'Firefly' Heuchera that Margaret gave me. In the picture the flowers look pink, but in real life, they are almost red.

This is the Dianthus 'Olivia Wild' that I bought this year to replace something else that died. I'm liking it a lot. And it keeps on blooming as well.

Today, day 10 after the oral surgery, I had a salad for dinner. No problem... I just chewed on the other side, and nothing hurts. This makes me quite happy. I've been missing my salads. One stitch is annoying as all get-out, and they don't get taken out for a month. It doesn't hurt, so I can't complain too much. They aren't the dissolving kind, but the dentist said they might come loose on their own. Hoping this one does.

Worked on projects, went shopping, blah, blah.

See Last of the Rock Garden Color