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I love them all, but will lean towards foliage AND flowers wherever possible...unless I locate some local free cutting sources of course! Anyway, is there anyone in the KY, S. OH, SE IN area who wants to comment on species on this list or recommend others?

Mainly dry soil, hot/humid summers, N side of house...gets some sun but a fair amount of shade in summer (3 floors). Will post pics later.

Steel City and Stainless Steel are a good choice. They were developed by a grower in the PA It is called Primrose Path. Check out the ones they have developed and you will have a good hardy plant.
http://theprimrosepath.com/lis...

Steel City is one I always wanted but have never seen for sale , even online.

Caramel lasted a few months until winter. The same for the other dozen or so varieties I tried. From other forums it seemed zones 7&8 are the best.

I'm done with Heucheras, might as well just bury $15 in a hole and not have to water it.

Pandora I know the feeling. I will not buy them if they cost more than 5.00 and I plant them in pots and protected through the winter. There was no way I could seem to keep them alive in the ground.

New heuchera coming out from Terra Nova in a series called Northern Exposure, Hardiness zone 4-9. Sounds promising. Suppose to be rust resistant too. Hate the rust on those light green ones.

I am in zone 5a and agree that many of the newer introductions just don't last past the first winter. These are the cultivars that work for me. All have been in the ground for at least 3 years. All are in bright shade with early morning sun and planted on a slope (I think that the key to success with these plants is excellent drainage, especially in the winter): Citronelle- this cultivar burns badly in the sun; Southern Comfort - needs morning sun for best color; Venus - a great performer and has come back for the last 5 years; Delta Dawn and Tiramisu - to me they are identical - loses the burgundy coloring in summer, Autumn Bride - this is a villosa strain.

It is sad they are so pretty. I will wait and see how the TN work out. I lost faith in their fast to the market promises.

They are to expensive to test for them and find out it is another of their rush to the market get cash quick promises without proper testing .

Cinta, I agree with your assessment of introductions from Terra Nova. Many of their cultivars lack vigor and perform poorly in the garden. I am also finding that many of their newer offerings are too similar to be interesting. In contrast, the heucheras developed by Primrose Path seemed to better tested and have a higher success rate.

I can not really say Primerose plants have done any better then Terra Nova and they are very hard to find. Bronze Wave has lasted for many years and I have always wanted to try Steel City but have never seen it for sale in stores or online. I tried Stainless Steel a few times but it never overwintered.

I am having great success with all that I purchased in the last three yrs when I started planting in coir planters. Everyone died that was on that list in my gardens. After winter I would have maybe a little plant that eventually died by the end of summer

I currently have only five heuchera, but that's because I'm so picky about the foilage colors and can't always find what I want. But now that I've decided I want this plant and lots of it I'll be collecting a lot more. So from my info above you know I don't have wintering problems.
I'm a container gardener for everything. I have some of these in clay pots and another in some fancy concrete + something bowls. They've all come through the winters, and for us 60* is too cold, so getting down close to 32* is a worrisome thing.
The amount of rain we got this year was very close to being scary, but the heuchs are all under eaves or roof edges and they got enuf rain, and they have excellent drainage, of course, and I make sure of that by checking for obstructions in the drain holes once in awhile - yeah I get fussy about some things - the dogs are at least polite enough to wait for me to leave the room before they kick off the covers I put over them. Obviously if my feet are cold, the dogs have to be covered up.

I have a few I have been growing in pots on my patio for three yrs that are doing very good. I am pretty sure my plants die because we get hurricane type rain in the winter and the temps drop below freezing so fast and not enough time to drain before it turns to a block of ice.

A lot of my winter temps drop below freezing and little to no snow for insulation. These plants are not strong enough to survive that kind of weather.

NJBob said:I can not really say Primerose plants have done any better then Terra Nova and they are very hard to find. Bronze Wave has lasted for many years and I have always wanted to try Steel City but have never seen it for sale in stores or online. I tried Stainless Steel a few times but it never overwintered.

Maybe because we are so close but my local nursery did carry Steel City and Stainless Steel. Both have done really good in the garden for me.

One of my favorite that lasted for a long time before I started growing in pots was 'Frosted Violet'

Frosted Violet has been a good reliable grower, but color wise not among my favorites.