Heucheras in a Terra Nova display garden. (Photos by Marcia Westcott Peck)
Dennis:
"You say you want an evolution?
"Well, we'd love to see the plant."
-- With abject apologies to the Beatles for mangling the lyrics to "Revolution."
OK, I might be off a word or two, but the fact of the matter is, there have been amazing and transformative things happening with heucheras.
And for those wondering how you pronounce "heuchera," it depends which side of the pond you are on. On this side, it's HEW-ker-ah. I think.
Dan Heims and Terra Nova Nursery have come up with countless varieties (as in, I lost count) of the ubiquitous -- especially in the Northwest -- plant, one enjoyed worldwide and a plant that Heims calls "100 percent native North American."
Heucheras in a mixed border.
How ubiquitous, you ask. And even if you didn’t, I’m still going to answer that question.
Using our front and back gardens as an example, you can find heucheras along the mosaic path linking the front and back, in dappled shade; in the front garden, where they get full sun; as focal points in the back garden; and in pots on our front porch.
And no doubt several other spots that slip my mind right now.
What I’m trying to say is, not only do they seemingly come in all the colors of the rainbow — and then some — and all sorts of sizes, they also come in varieties that do quite nicely in the hottest sun of the day and others that are perfectly content living in shade.
And they just keep getting even better.
Northern Exposure Purple
For example, rust has been an issue with some heucheras for years, so Terra Nova bred them with an incredibly hardy (to 50-below zero) heuchera species, the result being a series called Northern Exposure™, a rust-resistant plant.
In fact, I’m inclined to believe that every variety of huechera possible to create has now been created.
But, with Heims’ determination to surpass modern botany godfather Luther Burbank’s 800 plant varieties introduced, there’s more than a slight chance I am very, very mistaken.
Heucheras in a Terra Nova display garden.
Marcia:
Heuchera
- Common name: Coral bells
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Family: Saxifragaceae
- Genus: Heuchera
- Species: Between 35-50, plus many hybrids
- Plant type: Perennial
- Persistence: Evergreen
- Habit: Mounding, clumping, compact
- Zones: 4-9
Dan Heims showing the tissue culture growing process.
Dan Heims
- Common name: Dan
- Kingdom: Portland, and the far reaches of the horticultural world
- Family: Heims
- Genus: Genius
- Species: Hortiholic
- Plant type: Anything that produces chlorophyll
- Persistence: Breeding plants since who knows when
- Habit: Found roaming the world, collecting plants
- Zones: Zones? He don't need no stinkin' zones.
With all due respect, Dan Heims should be his own species. He’s certainly a force of nature in the horticultural world.
One of the founders and the president of Terra Nova Nursery (terranovanurseries.com), based out of Canby, Dan has been at the forefront of breeding and the introduction of cutting edge plants and horticultural science for more than 25 years.
Though he is widely recognized for breeding and introducing many different varieties of plants, such as heucherellas (a cross between heuchera and tiarella), echinacea and coreopsis to avid gardeners, I think heuchera hybrids are what he is best known for.
Dan Heims in the greenhouse.
I remember falling in love with our elderly neighbor’s coral bells more than 30 years ago. They were plain green with red flowers.
Our neighbor Anna lovingly gave me some divisions and I promptly killed them. I was heartbroken but never forgot them and vowed to try again.
And if you’ve been to our garden, you know I didn’t break my vow.
I can only imagine what Anna would have to say about these new hybrids, with the bright colors and ruffles and flowers that vie for attention.
I’m sure she would have loved them, too.
Terra Nova has introduced more than 160 heuchera hybrids since 1992. Headed by Janet Egger, Terra Nova’s crew of breeders hand-pollinates the best plants, which produces hundreds of thousands of seedlings, which are then narrowed down to just a few with the best characteristics.
Terra Nova then reproduces these hybrids through tissue culture to bring exact clones to your local nursery.
Recently Dennis and I were lucky enough to get a tour of the grow houses from Dan, and it really is an amazing operation.
Even though Terra Nova is a wholesale nursery, the good news is its plants are available for purchase at many retail nurseries throughout the United States.
'Lipstick'
Facts and tips
1. Drainage, drainage, drainage. Plant heucheras above the tilled existing grade using quick-draining bagged soil from your local nursery. Heucheras do not like clay soil! Amend your soil heavily and berm above the grade so the plant sits high and drains and it will be happy.
Heuchera 'Glitter' (Photos by Marcia Westcott Peck)
2. There are many hybrids and a place in any garden for a heuchera. Some varieties take both sun and shade, while others prefer more sun or more shade. Some are drought-tolerant once established, others like a little more moisture. Some varieties have been bred to take heat and humidity. Just make sure to check the tag.
'Black Taffeta'
3. Rainbows envy heucheras. Purple, red, orange, yellow, green and, if you squint your eyes after looking directly into the sun (Dennis: Maybe not directly), some silvery colored heucheras might even look blue.
'Rio'
4. They are evergreen and slug resistant.
Forever Red
5. Heucheras look good for about three or four years and then start getting leggy, out of shape and tired looking. Just dig up the whole plant and snap off the leggy stalks, remove old dead leaves and plant them right back into well-amended soil. Don't bury the crown. Each stalk will produce a whole new plant.
'Bella Notte'
6. Heucheras can get rust or strawberry root weevil. Look for rust-resistant varieties such as the Northern Exposure™ series. Dan claims root weevil can be controlled by digging up the infested heuchera in very early spring and pouring boiling water over the planting hole for four seconds or more, than replanting. Or, try controlling them with nematodes in September. Water before applying and again afterward to get them on target.
'Midnight Rose'
7. Heuchera flowers can be either insignificant or amazing, depending on the hybrid. Some varieties have been bred to have showy flower stalks and/or repeat bloom throughout the season. They make beautiful cut flowers and even attract pollinators. The mature leaves keep forever in a vase!
'Electric Lime'
8. Look for ruffled or lobed leaf edges, leaf veining, and don't forget to look at the undersides of the foliage for varying colors, too.
'Obsidian'
9. Because they are evergreen, they're great for winter color.
In the Pecks' garden
10. Plant in masses, borders or as a specimen (although I don't think you can buy just one). And they are especially beautiful in pots.
Heuchera root stalk ready to be planted
11. Heucheras are a genus of evergreen, herbaceous, perennial North American natives and can be grown throughout the U.S., from Florida to California, through the Arizona deserts and up into Canada. Just choose the right variety for your zone.
Heucheras (foreground) in the Pecks' garden.
12. Heucheras are propagated by tissue culture, which makes them clones of uniquely hybridized varieties that have been trialed and selected from thousands of plants. Because of this process, they are disease- and pest-free. It's all done with cutting-edge plant science.
These aren’t your grandma’s coral bells.
Marcia Westcott Peck is a landscape designer (mwplandscape.com or find her on instagram at @pecklandscape) and Dennis Peck is a senior editor at The Oregonian/OregonLive.
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An earlier version of this post misspelled Dan Heims' name and incorrectly explained what he was showing in a photo.
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