GARDENING
HEUCHERAS AND
H
eucheras and their friends, tiarellas, are among the most popular foliage plants for a shady garden these days with lots of new varieties, new leaf colours and patterns being introduced each year. However, heucheras started their horticultural story being grown and bred for the cut flower trade with masses of pink, white or red bells along stiff wiry stems up to 2 1/2ft / 75cm long.
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Heucheras and tiarellas are still valued for their flowers but new varieties tend to produce far shorter stems and sometimes the flowers are insignificant with the interest coming solely from the leaves. Heucheras and tiarellas are so closely related that they can cross pollenate creating the heucherella hybrids. Tellima is another closely related plant represented by a single species “grandiflora�. These are unassuming plants, but tough and long flowering with fringed bells in greenish white with a ruby red edge. Heucheras, tiarellas, tellimas and their hybrids are all woodland plants and shallow rooted so do best in
humus-rich soils that retain some moisture in summer and are partly shaded from the hot sun. Some shade is essential for those with the most highly coloured leaves to avoid scorching. I find that tellima is more drought tolerant and takes deeper shade than the others. None like being waterlogged in winter. Propagation is by division (essential for named varieties) in autumn or spring or by seed sown in heat for the species and for raising new varieties, but germination can be slow. In early spring give the plants a good tidy up, removing dead, damaged and old leaves. You can also cut back hard anyy untidyy woodyy
