Hi. last year was my first time planting coral bells next to my hostas (1st year in home). The snow melted here in St. Louis about 31/2 weeks ago. I looked at the coral bells and the peach melba and foamy bell look flat but with the same color foliage as last year. I dont know what to expect. I was expecting the foliage to die off like hostas but that does not seem to be the case. They look the same just flat. Is this typical? When do they rise up so that I can tell if they made it through the winter or not? The weather here has been in the 50's.
What is typical folliage after the winter?
Valdavid -
you should start seeing some smaller new leaves starting in the center of the crowns. I am just starting to see this on mine - you should see the newer leaves very soon.
This message was edited Mar 16, 2010 8:35 PM
Okay so the folliage is normal? I got scared for a momemt. It has not been too cold here but the only things growing in my yard are daylilies and bulbs. So maybe I will see new leaves in April. Is that the usual time they grow? Should I keepthe old folliage on the plant until I see new folliage?
I would leave the old leaves for now.
I pulled old leaves back yesterday and saw small leaves pushing through. Does that mean I made it over the winter? It has been in the 50-60's for 3 weeks, but suppose to have snow shower tomorrow, will this affect my new growth?
I have new growth too. I know I had to push some back into the ground too.
I would just keep an eye on them throughout the year. I know there were several people on this board that lost some of their heuchera last summer to too much rain....
Well we had quite a severe winter compared to normal but mine are doing fine.
Here's Dolce Blackcurrant.
Doug
And Dolce Creme Brulee'
Doug
Valdavid------ Coral Bells Wow!!!!! You must surely be a native missourian to call Heuchera that!! I never heard them called anything else but Coral Bells till I got on DG. I was trying to find a place to put a entry in a flower show at the state fair a few years ago ,and could not find the spot. I ask one of the judges where the Heuchera entries were and she did not know what a Heuchera was.
Your in my old neighborhood. I owned a house just off Dorsett and Mc Kelvey for years. I moved out there when Dorsett and Mc Kelvey was a single lane and both sides of the road were fields where Black Angus grazed. Kind of tells my age huh. Mike Moeller your one time Mayor was a neightbor of mine.
There is a place on Jungerman Rd,about 1/4 south of Mexico Rd that has real nice Heuchera plants. Most of them or of the Villosa Strain that do very well in this area. I sometimes buy plants there when we come in from the lake to visit my Grandaughter. They sell good healthy large sized plants,but are a bit high. I think they are worth every penny. I have Southern Comfort, Citronelle, Moucha,Beaujolais, Pinot gris, and Alabama Sunrise( that is really a heucherrella or Foamybells) all of the Villosa Strain with the exception of Alabama sunrise which is actually a VilllosaXTiarella cross that makes it a Heucherella or Foamy Bells. I bought all these out there.
Be careful of hybreds. a lot of them cannot take this areas heat and humidity and will die very easy. This because they are bred with heuchera that grow high up in the mountains. Pesch Melba might give you a problem it is among that group that does not do well around here as a rule.
A lot of Heuchera will do well in large pots. Mine mostly are.
Thank you Ikozardsgarden, I will go to St. Charles and check this place out. I plan to start a shade garden and mixed them in with some hostas.
Ikozark, they're referred to as coral bells by a lot of people here in Connecticut. When I asked a garden center about a heuchera, he totally mispronounced the plant as "hew-cheer-a" so I guess that's confusing to some. However, in the plant labeling, they refer to the heuchera genus and species and also list coral bells.
Anyway, they're among my favorites.
I don't really judge my heuchera's after the winter by the leaves, as much as I look at the crown....there should be at least a little color there in the center of the individual, indicating life. They will start putting out new leaves soon. If the crown looks all dark and dried up, it's probably gone. I have some out there that I need to dig up and remove the dead shoots, but there are enough parts alive that it will probably make it.
Dolce Peach Melba is really pretty in the Spring because it's a nice dark orangey pink..really stands out in the springtime.
Give us an update, Valdavid, please.
Split two of my old Palace Purple yesterday and got 25 plants!
None of mine (in full sun) in the salmon/peach family are doing well at all. They grow smaller every year and soon will disappear like Snow Angel did.
This message was edited Apr 14, 2010 9:18 AM
Mine really don't thrive either, pirl.
Mine were purchased as a full sized plants and now look like plugs. Seems it should work in reverse, doesn't it?
Thanks for the post, Noreaster, at least I don't feel quite as bad.
I'd really like to find a replacement for them, but I absolutely love the color mixed into my plantings....really don't want to give that up! If I see small ones for sale cheaply somewhere I will buy them to replace the ones that are on their way out. I think of the Peach Melbas almost as annuals, or close to it!
My absolute favorite one, Gypsy Dancer, isn't looking good right now either. The crown looks alive but there are lots of woody,dead parts and no real leaves starting yet. Kinda worried about that one.
So far mine are doing okay. My peach melba is not doing as well as Foamy Bells. I purchased Peach Melba before doing any research now from everything I read it is very difficult to grow. When more hostas come out for sale, I will purchase purple palace, that is the most common one I see around here so it must do pretty much okay. All the other colorful ones seem to have problems.
The Heuchera that does the best for me is Guardian Angel, which is purple-y in the Spring and becomes silver purple later. I don't like the flowers of that one so I cut them off, but it's really the only Heuchera that I can say is "thriving" in my garden.
valdavid - You really can't go wrong with Palace Purple. It's an oldy, but as they say - a goody. I can't tell you how many seedlings I've gotten just from them blowing off the mother plant and taking root, they're growing and thriving. Of course, that's EVERYWHERE I don't want them and where I'd like to grow them (other heuchs) I can't!!! Right now, I'm just leaving them be and one day I'll probably pull them out and transplant them somewhere. My neighbor's is like a small shrub and she doesn't do a thing with it.
Here too the villosa seem to thrive - although my Alabama Sunrise bit the dust after winter (as Ozark said a Villosa/Tiarella mix) which really surprised me. Another thing is that you can have three of the same planted right next to each other and one my die and the other two survive and thrive. It's always a crap shoot, but once you've been bitten by the heuchera bug, you're hooked!
Noreaster - I wonder if the villosa would do better for you there? I've had lots of success with Plum Pudding too which always has such great purple color - another old plant but a really good one. Also, I've had good success with Dale's Strain and love that deep green with purple veining - she's a newer plant for me but is growing like mad.
Good Luck with yours valdavid. Hope you find some nice ones to grow. If you do, please post pictures, we love pictures.
Doug - By the way, nice pics. The Dolce's do well here too. I don't have any myself, but friends do. Black Currant has great color and Creme Brulee is happy with lots of new growth! Yay!
I actually did add Plum Pudding last year, medinac, and it looks good so far this season- I guess time will tell. It looks similar to Guardian Angel, actually. Question- how do you know if a Heuchera is a Villosa or not?
Another one that does pretty well for me is "Prince"....but has much better color in the sun. I have a few in the shade, and one in the sun.
This message was edited Apr 16, 2010 10:54 PM
Noreaster - Gee, I don't know how to answer your question. When I first joined DG, there was an article on Heuchera breeders and they listed the names of the villosa. Also, if there's still a patent on the plant, I think you can look that up. Darn, there was another thread here that had a patent link and on there where you can read the parentage. I just don't have time right now to search for that thread - I have to pick up my daughter from a friend's. It's on this forum though. When I get time, I will look for the thread and post it here unless you happen to find it before me. I really should have bookmarked it because I thought it was interesting you can do that. I don't know what you do if there's no longer a patent - don't they run out at some point?
Noreaster - Here's the link for the patent link. StPaulPeg provided it on another thread for us.
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/PP19611/description.html