Some new additions
After a bad start to a very nice day which had to be wasted taking the car in to get new brakes fitted, I headed for a late lunch in one of my favourite garden centres which has an excellent tea-room with a wonderful array of cakes on offer! Oh yes and they also have a nursery sale area where they sell their home grown plants. Last time a I went they had a large range of heucheras on sale - at half price - so I wasn't expecting much today however I found 6 new ones - still half price so I came home well loaded. It would really have been rude not to!
Dark Magic - this is a beauty. Larger than average leaves in a solid dark green through brown.
This hybrid Coral Bells selection is a terrific choice for adding a touch of colour towards the front of a border. The leaves are heavily ruffled in a deep purple-bronze with a slight silver sheen. Sprays of cream flowers appear in early to mid summer. Fairly sun tolerant, but protect from hot afternoon sun in warm summer regions. Remove any winter-burned leaves in the spring, otherwise no pruning is required.
Full Sun or Partial Shade or Full Shade
Flowers White Early - Mid Summer
Height 20-40 cm
Spread 30-45 cm
Eye Spy - this is a Heucheralla, a cross between heuchera and tiarella. There are many different varieties with variations on the light green leaves with red veins.
Heucherella are traditionally grown for their foliage; 'Eye Spy' bucks that trend by also having spectacular flowering performance - I look forward to seeing this next year. In the garden, bubblegum pink flowers appear in spring and bloom for many weeks. In spring, large, dissected leaves emerge amber yellow with deep rose centers that vein up toward the edges of the leaves. As temperatures increase, the leaves mellow to bright chartreuse green with a silver overlay, forming a low mound of foliage that is evergreen in most climates. Perfect for brightening up the shade garden!
Height: 8.0-10.0 Inches Spread: 16.0-20.0 Inches
Flower Color: Pink shades Foliage Color: Yellow shades Multicolored
Sunlight: Part Shade, Full Shade Bee Friendly
Northern Exposure Black, Northern Exposure Red, Northen Exposure Amber
A range of three colours from Terra Nova nurseries in the US originally bred in Canada. Large leaves and lovely colour range. There are also Purple,Lime and Sienna in the series. I really like the range of leaf colours on the same plant. According to the breeding information, the flowers are quite spectacular too.
This series is extremely hardy, rust-resistant, mounding plants with richly colored, rounded leaves under lovely inflorescences.In the early 1980s, Collicutt and Marshall had a breeding program in Manitoba, Canada. These breeders saw the potential of a little-known Canadian heuchera, Heuchera richardsonii, a native to the Canadian plains which tolerated temperatures down to 40° F. While the Canadian breeders were able to improve the flowers on an otherwise drab plant, they did not have access to the diverse genetics of Terra Nova who were able to preserve the rounded leaves while introducing new leaf colors, showier flowers and shorter inflorescences. The collection features an exceptional range of rich-colored foliage with attractive, short flower stalks and great hardiness and an innate rust resistance — no rust has been found on this crop in five years of growing them in the Pacific Northwest, an environment where rust abounds. Rust freedom is great news in a cool damp climate like NW England!
Lemon Love - very different from the Northern Exposure Series - with smaller ruffled leaves, a nice splash of colour on a dull autumn day contrasting with the darker varieties.
This new yellow Heuchera shows its best color in part or filtered shade, where almost no leaf burning, a problem that plagues other varieties has been observed. Slightly ruffled, chartreuse leaves are produced on an especially vigorous habit, thanks to its Heuchera villosa heritage. The color will be more lime green in deeper shade. Over time, 'Lemon Love' will gradually spread to about 3 feet wide if given the space. Cream flowers with hints of blush in the calyxes are produced above the foliage in early summer. A great color for brightening up your shade!
This plant is a Heuchera villosa hybrid. The villosa species is a large, late blooming type that exhibits an increased tolerance of high heat and humidity over other species. Most produce cream flowers in midsummer, though they are grown more for their fantastic foliage. H. villosa is native to the southeastern United States.
These few heucheras are just a small sample of the amazing range of leaf sizes shapes and colours that are available. From reading some of the background information available, I'm getting quite interesting in the origins of the various species and how they have been developed.