I like high temps myself -

I will have to look them up. I have not dealt with I Love Hostas. Have you done business with them before and if so, what did you think?

They are a good source for the new ones, the plants are small but healthy. If you can get them in the spring they winter over well here.

Julia

it isn't the winter that tends to be my problem, it is the summers. I have lost more heuchs to the summers, than the winters.

You do have some high temps. I have that weevil that does damage.

@Carolyn22 ... I am growing my first huecheras, which were planted in the fall of 2012. They made it through the winter, but the real test was my high temps of summer. Two of them look like they are growing backwards, while one of them seems to be OK.

I am only guessing, but I don't think I watered them enough, or often enough, during the summer. Right now they are covered in snow, so I can't tell you anything about the plants.

Do you have high humidity along with high summer temps ? I am growing them in a somewhat arid climate. I am in Heat Zone 8. From what I have read, that should not be a problem. I do know that my "full sun" is going to be different that the "full sun" in a garden located closer to the coast, but I really don't know what I am doing. I want to add more heucheras, but at the moment want to increase my comfort level before I buy more plants.

Smiles,
Lyn

Lyn

I do have high humidity in my area during the summer. We can also have weather that is either quite dry or weather that is quite wet during the summers. I think it is the high heat though that has caused the problems for me. We have had temps that have been over a 100 degrees in the summer - the high 90's are not abnormal for my part of the country either.

I don't think the winters have been my enemy for my heuchs, but rather the summers. The other thing is that we are not dealing with our grandmothers' coral bells any longer. Heuchera have been bred over and over to get the colors. I know that I have had and read about varieties that are much more fragile than others.

Which ones do you have Lyn?

@Carolyn22........

I have the same high heat but in an arid climate.

I am a rose nut that has been trained by rose breeders, so I tend to research plants for my climate differently than the average gardener, which drives my gardening friends absolutely crazy. I also tend to relate the breeding development of plants to the breeding developments in the history of roses, because that is what I know best. I want to expand my plant pallet and truly fell in love with heuchs and thought I needed to know more about them, so that I could select the right plants.

I think the current heuchs are very much a transitional class very much like the hybrid perpetuals were in roses. HPs were the first class of roses crossed with the tea roses from China. Over 5,000 new cultivars were developed, but few have passed the test of time simply because the were not good plants. Breeders continued to work with them and gradually developed stronger plants, many of which are still in commerce.

From what I have read, huechs have only been actively bred since the 1980s, which, to me, says they are in the early stages of development.

Since I was trained by rose breeders, one of the things I had to learn was about the species roses used in the breeding of roses. So, my initial research was about species huechs. Yeah ... I developed a spreadsheet ... , but I haven't created the lineage trees for the non-species heuchs. (I haven't had time ... )

As I have been learning, I often see that if H. villosa is included in the lineage of a new heuch, it is said that is an indicator that the new plant will be "heat tolerant". However, that broad statement is not necessarily true because H. villosa is native to the southeast of the US with a far more humid climate than mine. (Those plants should do well for you, if you go by lineage.)

I know there are several species which are found in arid climates, but haven't finished researching them to find if they have been used in the current breeding programs.

The research will help, but I need to learn about the basics about growing heuchs. There is a lot of contradictory information about culture and none of the information I've found addresses growing the plants in a more arid climate.

My most successful heuch is 'Amethyst Mist'. 'Silver Scrolls' is OK, but not thriving. 'Autumn Leaves' may not make it in my garden. It could be the plant or it could be that I don't know how to care for it properly.

I am gardening in glacier debris which has excellent drainage and the roses, which also require good drainage are doing well, so I don't think it's a drainage issue that is keeping the plants from thriving. My plants are located in a deer protected area as I found out the hard way that my deer don't read and will go after the heuchs as soon as they see them.

'Amythyst Mist', gets more sun than the other two plants, but .... that may or may not be a factor. I just don't know.

Sorry for the long post, it's the only way I know to get more information from the people who actually have grown the plants.

Smiles,
Lyn

Happy New Years everyone. Good to see you here Carolyn , sorry to hear about your foot. I love Hosta sends small but healthy plants only 3.99 shipping and handling. They get the new ones before anyone else. Are you getting the big storm that is starting tonight? hopefully it will keep my Heuchera snow covered for the rest of the season. They seem to overwinter much better that way.
RoseBlush1 I would think that in your zone they should be in almost full shade and I do not know anyone that Autumn Leaves has done very well for. I would suggest trying Caramel and Mocha they seem to be 2 of the best performers.
Julia hope all is well ,

Lyn

The Villosa varieties tend to be sturdier, stronger plants and hold up to extreme conditions better than the other varieties. I will say though, the conditions for roses are so different than the heuchs. The roses can tolerate a lot more sun than the heuchera.

I think the heuchera probably do so much better for Julia than the rest of us. The heuchera plants really like her Pacific Northwest climate.

I have both Amethyst Mist and Silver Scrolls. They have done fine in my garden. I have them growing under a Fringe Tree with the Amethyst Mist getting a tad more sun than SS.

Carolyn

Good to see you too Bob - we are getting that winter storm, are you? I am not too thrilled about that - I really don't like snow. At least when my foot was broken, the weather was nice.


Lyn - I have to agree with Bob about Caramel and Mocha - they are both strong performers for me as well.

Good to hear from you Bob and Happy New Year as well. I like 'Brownies' and it has thrived for me. The city series has not done well and some of the bright green ones like 'Pistache'. Carolyn, I planted the one you gave me under the eve of the house so is still alive but not a super grower here. You are right, most do well here but I really think they need more sun in the PNW. Autumn Leaves is not a robust grower but mine is still alive.
How has the rust problem been for everyone?

@NJBob .... Thank you for the recommendations. I had the area enclosed by the deer fencing for the roses the previous owner planted out in front of my home made large enough to allow for full shade and deep shade under a maple tree out in what I call "deer territory" because I had planned to plant the heuchs at that end of the rose bed.

Thanks for the information about 'Autumn Leaves'. I live in an old gold mining town in the mountains and this was the only heuch carried by the plant center. I don't use the one nursery in town in that I know they will tell you everything will grow just perfectly whether it is suited to this climate or not.

I am more concerned about the arid vs humid climate impacting the performance of the plants and how to care for the plants in a more arid climate.

How long does it take for a small plant to gain some size ?

@Carolyn22 .. you said "I will say though, the conditions for roses are so different than the heuchs. The roses can tolerate a lot more sun than the heuchera." Other than sunlight, what other conditions might be different ?

Yes, I would expect the newer varieties to do well in the PNW as a lot of them are bred there. It only makes sense that the breeders would cull the plants that did not thrive in their conditions.

btw ... Happy New Year to all ... I hope to get to know you better.

Smiles,
Lyn

Lyn

I think the roses tolerate high heat better than the heuchera do. I have lost more heuchera to high heat than anything else.

@Carolyn22 .......

Depends on the rose .... Some classes of roses actually go dormant in high temps. Of course, you don't find much about that in rose literature and rarely in the marketing info about roses. They've been marketed as being able to be vigorous plants in all climates, but actually are regional in their performance.

I know plants respond differently to humid heat vs dry heat, so I am back to doing lineage trees. If I can find plants that include the species that are native here in their lineage, my bet is that I will have a greater chance of success.

I need to find plants that will work in the shadier areas of the garden.

Gardening in the mountains is all about micro-climates and elevation.

Thank you all for sharing your experience.

Smiles,
Lyn

Lyn you might want to try some Tiarella they do well in dry shade.

Thank you !

I've seen some photos and do like them, but when I started researching, I just was concentrating on the heucheras. Sometimes, I can become just too focused on one thing and not look at the broad picture.

Do you have any recommendations ?

Smiles,
Lyn

Jeepers Creepes is one that has done very well for me and has nice Fall coloring. Sugar and Spice has lots of flowers and has also grown well.
http://www.terranovanurseries....

Thank you, Bob.

From the patent numbers and the number of nurseries carrying the plants, at first glance, it looks like both have passed the "test of time." The lineage of both are "unknown" according to the patents.

I found an interesting link that shows the distribution of heurchera species in the US. There appear to be many species that are found in more arid climates. Just in case you might be interested, here is the link.

http://plants.usda.gov/core/pr...

Smiles,
Lyn

So far this is the only heuchera that has come back. It is in a bed that gets more water (near the water spigot)
Don't know what variety it is but I bought Rave on, Citronnelle and Tapestry and some other villosa varieties last year.

That one looks to be Heucherella Tapestry. Let us know how they do for you, we do not hear how they do in the south often.