What are your top 3 favourite Heucheras and which is top of your list to buy next? Here's my top 3 (it's so hard to choose just 3!)
1. Silver Scrolls
2. Amethyst Myst
3. Snow Angel
Top of list to buy: Peachy Keen
Edited to say this is 'Silver Scrolls':
This message was edited Sep 3, 2005 9:50 AM
Hands down, my favorite is Peachy Keen. I was fortunate to come across it this spring. It was very expensive, but I had a coupon (good in April) that made it half price. Then I went back in May with another coupon and picked up a second one for half off.
The new foliage is stunning. It turns to a mottled pinky green over the season and the flowers were bright pink.
I have Silver Scrolls and yes that is very nice too.
I am not familiar with Amethyst Myst-will check it out.
I have Snow Angel in some pots and need to put in ground before winter. Is that a strong grower for you?
The picture is H. Peachy Keen taken the end of June
This is my 'Sunspot' I am disappointed with the center variegation. I thought there should be more red in it.
That's a great pic of Peachy Keen! Now I what it all the more. Peachy Keen was supposed to be available in our area in the spring but I couldn't find it anywhere - maybe I'll be lucky this fall. I agree, the new foliage is very stunning. I could see it beside a blue hosta, but that light green in your pic really makes it stand out too.
Oh, I forgot Marmalade! If I could change my top #3, it would be #1-Silver Scrolls (flowers all summer), #2-Marmalade (spectacular spring foliage but then greens up a bit), #3-Snow Angel (lovely variegated foliage, takes alot of sun).
Here's Marmalade in the spring:
This is Snow Angel which grows extremely well for me.
Nice name, Shadyfolks! What percentage of your garden is shady? Myself, I would say 50/50 but if I did any expansion it would be all shade, which doesn't hurt my feelings one bit! There's so many great perennials that prefer shade, isn't there?
Re Sunspot. I went to a garden talk last year when they were promoting new and upcoming perennials. One was Heucherella Stoplight. They said how the red was "much more prominent than in Sunspot". I only purchased it this fall, so I can't tell yet if this is going to be true.
The pic below was taken a week ago, but as I just bought it, it could be juvenile foliage. Wouldn't it be great if it stayed this way all year long?
Heucherella Stoplight:
Sanannie-
Your Orange Marmalade is outstanding! and your Snow angle looks great too! I will be eager to see your Stoplight next year. I hear that the leaves are supposed to be much larger than Sunspot's, With more red in the center and larger leaves it should be a knockout.
I lucked out when I came across Peachy Keen. I was not familiar with it, but when I saw it I knew I had to have it. I could not believe how pink it was, it was amazing.
You ask how shady are we--We are quite shady, with only a couple areas that are open. We live in the woods and the only open areas are around the house and the center of the garden. Basicly, when I tell folks we are standing in the sunniest part of the garden (daylilies will bloom there) they laugh, because that is not what they would define as sunny. We have been working on thinning out trees and limbing up branches to raise our canapy.
I love our shade garden. 10 years ago we thought of it more like a curse. Now, we look at like it's a blessing. You would not believe the shade perennials available there are lots. A big part of the fun is finding them. Many are woodland plants and fit right in with our setting.
Here is a picture looking off our deck looking down at the main garden area. The bed just to the right of the bench is our "sunny area' were some daylilies and asiatic lilies bloom.
This picture is a continuation of the last picture. You could put them side by side. This picture goes to the right of the last one. That's our back yard!
Wow, that's shady! And beautiful! It looks so cool and restful. The path that goes behind the trees, are there more gardens back there too? Really lovely.
Just took some pics of the shady part of my backyard. We're in the woodland too (we call it The Bush) but a much more open area. Your gardens seem to be right in the woods which is so naturalistic. My shade gardens are more along the perimeter of the bush as we have a lot of poison ivy around here.
This pic is a continuation to the right of the last pic.
Ugh, Don't talk to me about poison ivy. I think I have had it for three years in a row now. We never had it in the yard till a few years ago. I think the birds bring it in.
Anyway--Sanannie, what a nice area you have. I love the stepping stone path you have and the great textures & colors going on. What is the tall purple bush in the background, and the small purple plants next to the path? The heron is cute, is it standing next to a little pond or stream? I like how the path opens up and becomes more defined. Great techniques for the path is calling out saying follow me and see where I will take you. What are the wooden structures in the second picture? They too look intriguing.
Here are some of my potted huecheras:
Marmalade
Caramel:
Flambe:
Shady: You asked what the tall purple bush is in the first pic....it's Diablo Ninebark and the small purple plants next to the path is Sedum Rosy Glow (the pinkish flower on the left). Yes, there's two ponds right next to each other, there's a step down into the area in the first picture. The wood structures - one is a gate and the other just a screen made of split cedar. Around here the farmers made fences of split cedar logs. We call them split-rail fences and they are very common in this area. It seems as people replace them on the farms with more modern fencing, many of us who like the rustic look make use of them in our gardens. Do you know if this was a traditional method of fencing in your area too?
I hung up a set of keys by the gate and a copper whirligig in the middle of the split-rail screen.
catbirdsue - I like the large shape of the leaves on Caramel and that Peach Flambe is a gorgeous pink! Looks like Osidian beside it? I have Obsidian but it's still tiny. Which heuchera is at the bottom of the pic next to Peach Flambe? Looks like you have quite a collection of heuchera! I'd love to see a few more of your favourites.
Catbirdsue,
Great collection, it makes me laugh when folks think a shade garden is all green. They just don't look hard enough.
sanannie,
Yes, I'm familiar with split rail fences, the gate and screen are real intriguing. Did you design them? You must be pretty handy? How neat-recycled yard art. Hey, there's another thread starter idea. We have a few recycled things ourselves. I just started thread in Garden Art forum.
Keep the pictures coming of the Heuchera.
Shady, I'll check out your thread in Garden Art, I'm pretty sure I have a couple of recycled yard art I could post. Yes I designed the gate and screen and no, I wouldn't consider myself handy - that's why rustic is the way to go for me...no straight corners and it's supposed to look old and decrepid LOL!
Here's a pic of Heuchera 'Plum Pudding'.
I dont think that that is Plum pudding mine is so much darker and the edges are more ruffled Ill go take a photo of mine and post it.
Cathy
Cathy- The above pic was taken in July - maybe that's why it is much lighter? Here's a pic from today, it is much darker, but when you post your pic we can check out whether the leaves are the same.
sanannie,
Well, I love your style!
Love all your Heuchera photos! Shadyfolks and sanannie, as always, your gardens are beautiful! We grow so many Heucheras it's hard to choose. I've always loved 'Silver Scrolls', looks fresh all year long and has a lovely tidy habit. However, a new one for us, 'Gypsy Dancer' is placing a close second - similar foliage which keeps its silver tones all year and it bloomed forever! Love 'Marmalade' - very similar looking to 'Amber Waves', but I like it better and boy is it a vigorous grower! 'Peach Melba' is another keeps it color well in the summer heat. I have always loved 'Snow Angel' and sanannie your photo is gorgeous. Unfortunately this one has been a little slow taking off in our gardens - problems with the moles - but I haven't given up yet because the foliage is so striking amongst the other Heucheras in early spring -it's the only green and white variegated Heuchera that will withstand our summer heat and humidity without 'melting' away. I am also disappointed with the lack of red in 'Sunspot' - definitely much nicer in spring - hopefully 'Stoplight' will be added to our gardens next year and I can compare the two. As a last note, 'Green Spice' has and always will be one of our favorites.
I love this thread, because I think my absolute favorite shade plants are Heucheras. I've got:
Venus
Stoplight
Caramel
Velvet Night
And several others that I don't know the name of
I want Green Spice and Peachy Keen.
kbaumle,
I live the veins of of venus.
So were is Haviland?
rcn48, I'm trying to edit my heuchera purchases by trying to buy only distinct varieties, ones that don't look too much alike. For example, the Amber Waves vs. Marmalade. Gypsy Dancer looks similar to Can Can which I have, but you say GD keeps its silver foliage all year and is a long bloomer. Sounds like distinctive characteristics. I'm also wondering whether Frosted Violet is too similar to Amethyst Myst. Anybody have both of these to compare?
kbaumle, Ooooh, I just looked up Venus and it's a real looker! I've added it to my want list (which now has Peachy Keen, Geisha's Fan and Cinniabar Silver, Sparkling Burgundy, Jade Gloss yikes!)
This is a cutie,Pewter Moon!!
Ring of Fire!!!
well i must have done something wrong -posted yesterday afternoon and it's not here! Try again. sanannie, Amber Waves vs Marmalade - I prefer Marmalade because it has more a pink tone. Gypsy Dancer doesn't really look like Can Can - CC has the ruffling and GD is more silver with a different leaf shape. GD is however somewhat like Silver Scrolls, but varies in leaf shape. I was just really impressed with GD because it's blooms are much nicer than SS, white but with more pink and they bloomed for almost 6 weeks! I was going to try to get some pictures yesterday but it started raining! Not much, but the first rain for us in over 4 weeks!! Will try to get some pictures today.
Nice pics, ruby42. I have Pewter Moon too but have you noticed it doesn't seem to be around anymore? Ive seen lots of Pewter Veil and at one point I even questioned whether I had mislabelled Pewter Moon or maybe some plants were mislabelled in the marketing. Then I saw it in the Plant Files and now you've posted a pic too!
rcn48 - thanks for the info about Gypsy Dancer. We had some welcome rain yesterday too - an all day steady downpour. I'd love if you could post some pics sometime.
Shadyfolks, Haviland is about 30 miles east of Fort Wayne, IN. It's not on the way to anywhere. LOL.
Yes, Venus is gorgeous!
sanannie, here's the shots I took of H. 'Can Can' and 'Gypsy Dancer' yesterday morning - 'Can Can' first
and 'Gypsy Dancer'
Also, 'Amber Waves' (right) vs. 'Marmalade'
rcn - Yes, I can see now how the leaves differ in 'Can Can' and 'Gypsy Dancer' and the 'Marmalade' is much more colourful than 'Amber Waves'. A picture is worth a thousand words, thanks so much for posting those!
rcn48,
Great plants you have growing there! Your pictures are great for comparing and it's easy to see the difference. I love your 'Can Can'
Hi, everybody--love your pics and discussions about heucheras...as shadyfolks pointed out, I am one of those, I guess, who doesn't look hard enough sometimes---I never thought heucheras were especially interesting, but you all have made them quite intriguing for me and I will have to look 'harder' at them...
sanannie--back at the top of the thread, by the way, I love the way you used the heuchera to set off the silver grey pot and then again your garden sculpture of the figures joined in a circle...I would love to have an 'eye' for that kind of placement!
I only have 'purple palace' and I'll have to find a better place for it.
Happy gardening. t.
I just got a new one yesterday, from Bluestone. 'Firefly.' The foliage is nice, but the flowers will be red, red, red!
tabasco - IMHO Palace Purple is a yawn compared to all the newer varieties. I think if you grew even a couple of these that people have mentioned here, you'd be won over!
kbaumle - I just looked up Firefly and the flowers look huge. Should be a showstopper.
Kbaumble,
I am about 20 miles east of Cleveland in the 'snow belt'
