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I am new to gardening (started flower beds this year ... here I will shamelessly proselytize for my thread about that, as I would LOVE more advice/tips/comments/critiques: //www.city-data.com/forum/garde...questions.html ) but have fallen totally in love with heucheras (a/k/a coral bells).
I bought a bunch of mature ones at Home Depot and my local nursery and they all thrived in pots this late spring/summer with very little work (an occasional watering during dry periods). I just got a flowers/plants order for fall planting so am getting the mature heucheras out of pots and into the ground too. Part of my order was "mixed coral bells" -- I ordered 3 sets and got 3 different varieties (melting fire, palace purple, and green spice) -- wish they'd sent me 9 different kinds but I like the ones I got.
Also ordered red coral bells -- the odd thing (to me) is that in the catalog picture (and online) they showed the flowery part but I love these for the foliage. The mature ones I've planted are galaxy, caramel, solar eclipse, and a couple of others I have forgotten!
Any other fans out there? If you have some in your garden, please post photos and tell us your zone! (I'm in zone 5.)
Last edited by karen_in_nh_2012; 10-05-2015 at 07:55 PM..
Reason: fix typo!
I adore them. I am in zone 7a. For some reason, the darker species do the best in my gardens. I have Plum Pudding and Obsidian in a number of places. Caramel did not do well in my garden. But one green one, Lime Rickey, has really thrived and gotten huge. And it stays bright green all winter! Very cheerful. I like the way heucheras' foliage changes color over the seasons. And the darn things are hard to kill, once established. After last winter, I thought for sure they would all die off. But they all came back this spring. I couldn't care less about the flowers. LOL Like you, I love them for the foliage. Good luck!
I loved them and had a yard full on Long Island but both attempts here in De. failed miserably. They do need well drained soil so I have determine that the clay in my neck of the woods keeps the feet too wet so unless I pot them which I may try next spring, I am bell less again this year.
Yes I do. Someone wisely told me once, to choose perennials for the foliage, and the flowers are just an extra bonus. Heucheras come in so many great varieties, I love them.
Thanks, all! I have planted all of mine -- had a frost advisory the night of the day I got the first ones in the ground but I covered them and they seemed to do fine. I've also planted the mature ones that I had in pots all spring/summer -- they are really gorgeous.
Ghengis, I haven't grown anything from seeds -- do you buy your seeds online or get them locally? I would like to try that!
And if any of you have photos of yours, please post!
You've already had frost advisory? Oh goodness...I could never be a happy gardener with such a short season. Yes I love coral bells and will look for pictures soon. Sometimes we have early spring flutter of snow and they are so pretty sticking out!
I have lots of the traditional red and when they bloom my resident humming bird thinks its a buffet.
Our hummingbirds here in NJ love them, too. I love to watch them go from flower to flower, putting their beaks and tongues into those tiny bells. Speaking of hummingbird tongues, a smart biologist recently figured out how they work: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/sc...-it-works.html Just fascinating! Loved the description of the hummingbird hovering in front of his face, as if to say, "Why are you here?". I have had the same experience. LOL
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