@Tepelus, Karen ....

I am new to growing heucheras and I am not sure about what you mean about turkey necking. I've heard the term, but I wouldn't know if one of my plants was turkey necking because I don't know what it looks like or what to do if I saw it on one of my plants.

Would you mind explaining it to me ?

Smiles,
Lyn

It's when the crown of the plant gets long and woody and the leaves come out of the end of it. Some heucheras are prone to it after a few years, others are not. Depends on their genetics, I think. I've read that if you cut off the turkey neck and plant it in soil that it'll root and grow a new plant. So far mine haven't wilted but they have stopped putting out new leaves. Once they start growing again then I'll know they've taken root. You have to do it fairly early in the season so they have time to root and then time to establish when planted in the ground. Some people stick them directly in the ground but I like putting them in pots so I have better control of watering.

Karen, very good explanation. That will be most helpful to so many.

About turkey necking, my Palace Purple does that. I yank them out, cut them apart and replant. It works very well. Out of my 20 or so varieties, this is the only one that seems to do it, and usually only after several years.

Thank you. I've got a couple of photos of my 'Amethyst Myst' taken this spring and I was wondering if that was what I was seeing. I'll post them later tonight.

Smiles,
Lyn

@Tepelus

Thank you for explaining turkey necking. I am sorry I didn't get back with the photos I promised. The triple digit heat hit two weeks early and I have been a garden slave ever since.

Tepelus said:It's when the crown of the plant gets long and woody and the leaves come out of the end of it. Some heucheras are prone to it after a few years, others are not. Depends on their genetics, I think. I've read that if you cut off the turkey neck and plant it in soil that it'll root and grow a new plant. So far mine haven't wilted but they have stopped putting out new leaves. Once they start growing again then I'll know they've taken root. You have to do it fairly early in the season so they have time to root and then time to establish when planted in the ground. Some people stick them directly in the ground but I like putting them in pots so I have better control of watering.

I no longer have any doubts about whether or not my 'Amethyst Myst' is turkey necking. It has survived my hot dry summers quite well for the last two years. This year, which is also the third year of drought in our part of the country, it is struggling with the heat. My summer temps are running 10 to 15 degrees hotter than they have been in the last two years. There is no doubt I am going to have to move the plant further back under the dogwood tree to give it more shade. For now, I am protecting it from direct sunlight with a tee-pee over the plant with a sheet pinned to it. It's alive and not going backwards since I started protecting it.

I try not to plant anything when it is this hot and dry. I know how to do it and still end up with a strong plant, but it takes a LOT of TLC, so I'd rather wait until it cools off.

If I can get it through the summer, do you think I would be better off waiting until next spring before I cut the crown off and start a new plant ? Or do you think I should handle it this fall ?

I will probably put it in the ground because keeping the proper moisture in container plants seems to be harder for me in my dry climate.

I really, really need to get the invading vinca and blackberries out from under that dogwood tree so that I can have a place for shade plants.

Smiles,
Lyn

Around here early Spring , just as they start growing seems to be the best time for dividing and replanting.

Thank you, Bob. I prefer spring planting because I have more control. However, I did plant my first three heucheras in fall simply because I didn't know any better ..

Smiles,
Lyn

I would wait until spring. They take a while to establish and planting in the fall could lead to heaving.

Thank you, Karen.

Again, I've heard the term "heaving" before. As I understand it that occurs when the soil freezes and then thaws several times coming out of winter into spring and the plant is pushed up out of the ground in the process. Am I correct ?

My soil does not freeze. The night temps get below freezing, but the day temps never go below freezing. Also, I think I have too much rock in my soil for it to freeze.

Smiles,
Lyn

Yup, that's what happens to us in northern climates. I didn't notice that you are in northern Cali. Still, I think I would wait to move and divide in the spring when the weather isn't so hot or cold.

Gosh, I'm in Minnesota and can't even imagine soil not freezing....
In spite of that, heucheras are pretty hardy for the most part. I have lost only a couple over many years. From looking at these forums, it seems like they are harder to grow in milder climates? Other people have told me the villosa hybrids tolerate heat better.

Thank you for your response.

I think it is the dry heat that is harder on the heucheras with the villosa species in their lineage. h. villosa is native to the southeast US ... a more humid climate. I think I have to find plants with h. mircrantha in their lineage because it is found in more arid climtes. See The thread "Is this H. micrantha ?" in Heucheras forum

I live in the lower end of the Klamath mountains at the 2400ft elevation. I am certain that the folks at the higher elevations in the Trinity Alps do experience soil freezing in the winter.

I had planned to move my h. mircrantha plants this fall, but now, I think I'll wait until spring. My neighbor cut down the tree that was giving them shade, so I am shading those plants, too. Oh, and for the first time in 10 years the deer ate them down to the crowns. I am trying to get them back.

It's always something.

Smiles,
Lyn

Lyn, learning something every day. So villosa is for humid heat? That explains why they do well here. Although I have to say that my Palace Purple, which is micrantha, is totally indestructible. Thanks for the info!
Deer and rabbits...cute animals but bad for gardeners

Jeanie ...

I am a lineage nut about roses and that's how I found the plants that would do well in this climate. I really needed heat tolerant roses ... lol.

When I fell in love with heucheras after I bought my first three plants, I did the same kind of research to find out what species were native in what areas so I could select plants based upon both how they look and their lineage. Palace Purple is definitely on my wish list.

The only reason the deer finally when after those plants is that I finally got the deer fencing right for the roses the previous owner of my home planted out in front of the house. Once they couldn't get to the roses, they went after everything else. The house pad and slope are deer safe, so that's why I keep moving things up here. I just don't have enough shade on this level. The front of the house has shade, but that's deer territory.

Smiles,
Lyn

Deer will eat anything, given the right circumstances . I just did a search for micrantha, and another of my favorites is in that group...Melting Fire. It has deep red foliage...very pretty!

Especially town deer. Their mothers didn't raise them right. Town deer will eat things that any other self-respecting won't even think of eating

As for 'Melting Fire' ... oh, yeah, it's a beauty.

Smiles,
Lyn

I found Melting Fire so cheap this year I picked up two I think they were 2.99.

Deer, Groundhog in my area will eat anything. They did not touch my Azeleas for years last year it was a bad winter they ate them down. They ate Daffodils that is one plant they should never eat because it is poison. Well I did find one dead down in the woods maybe it was him but they ate some of my daffodils this Spring. I am going to cover everything this winter especially my evergreens. There was not one Herc that they did not eat some or all of this last winter.

That heuchera had been left alone for 9 years. With the drought, I am not surprised that they are eating everything.

Smiles,
Lyn

I don't have deer here, but I have ravenous rabbits, and several years ago I had a groundhog living under my shed. Everything in the yard was eaten down to the ground in about two nights
Fortunately, a local friend who was a barber told us to take a bag of hair from his shop and put it under the shed...groundhog left immediately
I suspect that only works if you know where they are living, but in our case it was a good result.