If words like Key Lime Pie or Crème Brûlée sound good enough to eat, just wait until you put them in the garden. You won’t eat these, but your shade garden will certainly come alive with color.
Dolce Crème Brûlée and Dolce Key Lime Pie are two new varieties of heuchera, or coral bells, and lucky for you they’ve been in pretty good supply.
For those of you who are not familiar with heuchera, it is native to the United States and thrives from North to South and East to West. This plant will tolerate extremes in temperatures and produces tall, airy flowers in pink, coral, red or white.
Many, like Dolce Crème Brûlée and Dolce Key Lime Pie, have foliage so colorful and ornately shaped that they will cause you to stop dead in your tracks, and you would be just as happy if they never bloomed. Amber Waves heuchera is another such variety. It used to be rare that I would find heuchera in the landscape, but that is not the case anymore. It is an outstanding plant that deserves a place in the partially shaded garden.
Heuchera, also called coral bells, is not tricky to grow. A well-drained, organic-rich bed in partial shade provides the best environment for the plant. Amend tight clay soils with 3 to 4 inches of organic matter and till to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Incorporate two pounds of a slow-release fertilizer, such as a 12-6-6, per 100 square feet.
Plant nursery-grown transplants this spring at the same depth they are growing in the container. Space the plants 9 to 15 inches apart.
Feed established plantings in the spring with a light application of a 5-10-5 or 12-6-6 fertilizer. Keep the heuchera watered and mulched throughout the growing season. Remove spent flowers to increase bloom production. Divide mature clumps every three to four years in the fall or with the emergence of spring growth. Replant the young, vigorous divisions and dispose of the old, woody stems.
People often wonder what to plant in the shade. The answer is heuchera. Plant them along woodland trails or in front of shrubs. Great combinations can be made with wood fern or autumn fern. Let your artistic nature shine and use with hostas. It sounds gaudy, but I’m sure it will please you.
Look also for Amethyst Myst with burgundy foliage and an amethyst overtone. Green Spice’s silver leaves have dark gray edges with purple veins. Velvet Night’s leaves are dark purple and pink with even darker veins. Palace Purple is also very popular with its maple-shaped leaves and white flowers.
Keep your eyes open for Dolce Peach Melba. This heuchera is unbelievable, with peachy orange on top with pink undersides. Put Dolce Peach Melba in the filtered garden and partner with a blue hosta and you’ll have a look worthy of a photograph.
