Conniepr27,
I would be interested to know what varieties of heuchera you've had success with as our climate is very similar. I've not had a lot of success with overwintering heucheras here other than an odd few. I did get Key Lime Pie this year so am hopeful after seeing yours. I also got Frosted Violet and Caramel but they were end of season sale plants and I don't have high expectations for them as they were planted so late. I think success with heuchera improves with spring planting, would you agree? I'm also trying a heucheralla, Sunrise Falls, first time with this plant; not sure how hardy they are.
Thanks for any advice.

I have 2 cultivars that do well for me here, but don't know the names of either...will have to see if I have pics of them.

The other one I have is Dolce Peach Melba...it just does not perform well here and stays far too small....
Coral Bells (Heuchera Dolce® Peach Melba)

Debbie, I'm in 4a and have had very good success with Palace Purple, Brownies, Regina, Snow Angel, Green Spice, Plum Pudding and Pinot Gris. I have been growing.some of these for 8-10 years (Pinot Gris is newer.) I have tried several others that were more colorful, but they do not seem to last as long.

I know that I am in a warmer zone than both Jeanie and Debbie, but I have had great luck with the end of season sales and healing the whole pot into the back of my garden. I dig a large hole and bury the whole thing. This way, the plant does not have to re-establish itself until Spring.

I like to get the discounts that are offered at the end of the season. I have done this with many different types of plants, including heuchera, and have only lost 1 plant in all of the years that I have been following this practice.

I had a very hardy variety called Arctic Mist that survived for quite a few years but succumbed to the harsh conditions we had last winter(no insulating snow cover prior to the very cold temps); Molly Bush (similar to Palace Purple) has also done ok for me. There have been many others over the years that have been annuals or short lived ( a few years). Of course I want some of those more colourful varieties that are such a great contrast! I had pretty much given up on heuchera, but I made a new bed of hostas this year and thought I'd give one more try with some pretties!
Jeanie, thanks for your list of those that have done well for you. I remember having Green Spice at one time. Will check out the others.
Carolyn, good idea about healing in the pots of late season purchases. I was considering doing the same with a few pots in my compost pile as an experiment.
Another suggestion made to me by a gardener in my climate was to take cuttings in the fall from heucheras in the garden then grow them indoors for the winter. She has found that those plants went on to be much more robust/hardier in the garden in subsequent years.

DebbieC said:Conniepr27,
I would be interested to know what varieties of heuchera you've had success with as our climate is very similar. I've not had a lot of success with overwintering heucheras here other than an odd few. I did get Key Lime Pie this year so am hopeful after seeing yours. I also got Frosted Violet and Caramel but they were end of season sale plants and I don't have high expectations for them as they were planted so late. I think success with heuchera improves with spring planting, would you agree? I'm also trying a heucheralla, Sunrise Falls, first time with this plant; not sure how hardy they are.
Thanks for any advice.

Debbie, other than the Key Lime Pie, the only one I still have a tag on is called Georgia Peach Coral Bells. My two very large prple leaf ones were called something wine but it appears I didn't keep the tags that year. They have all done really well and have lasted 4/or 5 years so far. I bought them all for the planters, let them grow in the planters all summer and then moved them into the ground in the fall. They all did really well.

I would love to hear how your Key Lime Pies did.

And, no; the thrill is not gone! I bought another very large prple leafed coral bells yesterday. We got home late and I put it in the garage for the night as it was snowing I'll have to grab the tag off it for my gardening binders.

Oh no Connie! Sorry to hear about the snow. Touch wood it doesn't head east
I definately will report on my Key Lime Pie and the other heucheras I planted last year. So far Key Lime looks pretty good, kept a lot of the foliage intact under its snow cover, but will have to wait and see how it does with our iffy weather over the next month. I've been doing some garden cleanup over the past week and am getting excited over what is poking up. A few things like the heucheralla I got have heaved out of the ground so hope it will survive after being tucked back in.
Haven't done any plant shopping yet; trying to behave myself!

The thrill should be gone for me but.......they are so pretty and I have finally found a way to keep them alive by growing them in pots. I move the plants to the garden in the summer and put them in a protected area in the winter. I get very little leaf dying so I start with a full plant in the Spring and they do not die over the winter.

Bob,

Your mystery plant does not look like the buttered rum I have grown. I'm leaning towards Sweet Tea with Julia.

The thrill is still alive and well for me, and since I look at the garden as an ever-evolving entity, I always expect some changes, and sometimes I like the new combinations better than the old ones!

One of the best ways to keep the cost of new plants down is through trading. While you're trading Heuchs you can trade other stuff and the whole garden improves. I almost never buy plants anymore (except for really new stuff or really rare stuff).

Happy Spring!

Jen