The inhabitant from southern Ontario to Georgia, Oklahoma and into Michigan, with greenish-white flowers, yielded foliage brewed into a tea for the relief of diarrhea, piles, and gargled for sore throats
The names roll around the mouth like a rich red wine: Berry Marmalade; Berry Smoothie; Blackberry Crisp; Cherry Cola; Ginger Peach; Midnight Bayou; Mysteria; Peach Crisp. Following Hemerocallis and Hosta, Heuchera moved into the limelight.
Members of the family Saxifragaceae, these genetically unstable North American natives are named after Johann Heinrich Heucher, 1677-1747, professor of medicine at Wittenberg. Commonly referred to as Alum Root or Coral Bells, a dozen or more species are to be found from near Hudson Bay south and west even as far as coastal British Columbia, mainly in dry woods with neutral pH soils.
Green to purplish foliage with white to pink blooms makes many these attractive enough in themselves. In hybridists’ hands, however, they have taken on vastly differing appearances.
Long gone are the days when H. americana found folk use as a styptic and stringent. The inhabitant from southern Ontario to Georgia, Oklahoma and into Michigan, with greenish-white flowers, yielded foliage brewed into a tea for the relief of diarrhea, piles, and gargled for sore throats; a root poultice might be applied to wound, sores, or abrasions.
Virtually evergreen except in the coldest areas and deer-resistant, they flourish will in rich, well-drained soil in semi-shade to shade where they combine well with ferns. In colder climates Heuchera can tolerate sun and some of the most colourful new cultivars require just that to bring out their rich shades.
And what shades they are! H. microcantha ‘Palace Purple’ is an old favourite of a highly variable habit. Still a stand by of many big box store garden centres it is still to be found in southwest coastal B.C. including Gulf Islands. It has now been joined by a bewildering selection. Foliage may vary from almost black through shades of red, pink, cream, yellow, orange and silver.
Blooms come in everything from white and cream through pink and purples to reddish-brown. The names are equally colourful: ‘Berry Smoothie’ arrived last year with purple rose to rose-pink foliage. ‘Blackout’ features nearly black leaves with cream flowers. ‘Caramel’ has yellow-orange leaves with red undersides and made it as runner-up for next year’s perennial plant of the year selection. ‘Midnight Bayou,’ another 2010 introduction, has large purple leaves with black veins. ‘Mint Julep’ offers mint-green and silver foliage with white flowers and is drought resistant once it becomes established. ‘Fire Chief’ was also new last year with wine red leaves with pink and white flowers.
And there are literally hundreds more. Their photographs are splashed across tony tomes like so many models on the catwalk. This does not please everybody. Anne Taylor of Victoria B.C. for one: “Plant pornography folk in glossy magazines,” she exclaimed in University of British Columbia plant forum on Heuchera.
Seed is slow and hardy to germinate, although the well-known English seed firm of Thompson and Morgan offers “new hybrid seed”. Otherwise the best method of propagation for the home gardener is by division.
Another reason for their newly discovered popularity is the lack of pests and diseases likely to inflict disaster. In fact, probably the commonest cause of demise is that the old problem of planting too high – the usual one – or too low. Install exactly at soil level. If the crown – the point at which the foliage and flower stems join the roots – is left too high, the plant will almost certainly succumb in its first winter.
Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.
