Ready or not, a host of new perennials have stormed the garden world and are vying with the old standbys for our attention. If you’re like me, you came into the spring season with a list of plants to add to the new spring garden. Since heucheras have done so well in my garden in the past, I’ve been looking forward to adding a few more selections to this year’s garden. With the proliferation of new plant material on the market, I’m beginning to doubt my own ability to keep up with a burgeoning supply of new introductions. Then again, I rarely balk at such an intriguing challenge.
Even in the cooler microclimates of Clark County, the earliest spring perennials are up and blooming. In my garden, heuchera hybrids tantalize with new leaf growth in a medley of purple, green, orange and amber tints and hues. These bold clumps of colorful, roundish leaves are further enhanced by lobed or scalloped edges and contrasting under-leaf color. Flower spikes shoot up and out of the foliage on wiry stems from 10 inches to 3 feet, flirting with a mist of petite red, cream, pink or white flowers in extended clusters. Bloom time varies by type from early spring to late summer. Some will continue late into fall.
The selection of heucheras now available in local nurseries has expanded to an almost absurd degree over the last few years. Fortunately, most do extremely well in the Pacific Northwest climate — and when they do well, they are almost all worth having in the garden. The biggest problem for most of us is that the selection of hybrid plants is so vast and, quite often, the difference between one plant and another is so difficult to detect that we back away from choosing any one plant out of sheer bewilderment. The plant’s common names are coral bells and alum root. Although they are typically recommended for partial sun conditions I have found that most can handle full sun for at least a part of the day in our climate.
My recommendation is to take a chance and choose a selection of plants strictly for their appearance. Choose a few for their individual leaf colors while keeping your own garden’s color palette in mind. Try them out to see how well the family of heucheras will do in your own garden. Once you know that they are going to thrive in your environment, you can get more serious about choosing specific hybrids. Use them in rock gardens or massed together as a groundcover in beds and borders. Since they come in a vast array of foliage colors, they make good container plants to move around the garden.
