A plant collector's delight
The Gardener's Corner
By Judith Rogers

Alum Root or Coral Bells, the common names for Heuchera sanguinea is said to be an ideal flower for folklore. The tiny bellshaped flowers along the flower spikes indeed could be tiny caps for fairies hiding in the garden.

A great edging plant or one for mass plantings, heucheras have come a long way with so many foliage and flower colours to choose from and a favourite for plant collectors. Easy to grow and hardy to Zone 4 (- 34 C), they prefer light to partial shade in a welldrained organic woodland soil. Keep the soil evenly moist as they do not tolerate drought and therefore benefit from a good layer of mulch. Blooming from June to August in shades of cream, pink and red, removal of the spent flower stems as with many perennials will extend the blooming period. Cut the stems off to the basal foliage or they can be simply pulled out of the plant when they are declined enough.

Although coral bells grow readily from seed, most cultivars will not come true so division of the plants is the best way to have more of the same.

Overgrown clumps can be rejuvenated by being dug up every three to four years, discarding the oldest woody stems and replanting the rooted newer sections. Fluctuating temperatures over winter can cause a frost heave of the crowns of coral bells out of the soil and they will need to be replanted deeper in spring.

A photo of Heuchera Obsidian.

Plant breeders developed Heuchera Americana, American alumroot, which has supplied the genes for many of the coral bells with dark bronze, chocolate brown and deep purple leaves. Palace Purple was the first dark-leaved coral bell to emerge and new hybrids have far surpassed the traits it has. Chocolate Ruffles, Velvet Night, Obsidian and Amethyst Mist have followed as well as some lighter enticing colours. Lime Rickey, Peach Flambé and Marmalade are much sought after as they compliment the foliage of the darker varieties.

Dugald Cameron of Garden Import has released some new heucheras for 2008 that will tempt gardeners with their colour and qualities.

Beaujolais is a large and vigorous heuchera with burgundy leaves softly touched with silver; Blackout a compact 15 centimetre tall beauty with deep black leaves; Citronelle with citron-yellow leaves that will grow in full shade; Pinot Gris with young leaves a ginger colour with a light silver overlay and maturing to a smokyrose with a heavy silver overlay and deep purple underside and Tiramisu that is a chameleon starting out yellow, smattered and veined with red and changing to chartreuse with a silver overlay in summer and again to a red with chartreuse edging and veining by late summer. All this on a compact 22 cm tall plant - amazing.

Good neighbours for heucheras are bleeding hearts, woodland phlox, foam flower, hostas, lady's mantle and Japanese painted fern.

They have few pest or disease problems which are why, besides numerous colours, people like to collect them.