After several spates of sizzling summer weather, many gardeners were left looking for drought tolerant alternatives to lush perennial garden plantings. One perennial that has been a stalwart of my garden has been tickseeds or coreopsis.
The odd common name of tickseed comes from the fact that people used to think the seed head looked like a tick. There are a number of species of tickseed but one of the most popular and drought tolerant species is the thread-leaf tickseed, Coreopsis verticillata.
Tickseeds are in the Asteraceae family. They tend to form 1-2 foot mounds that are covered with daisy-like flowers. They are tough customers that don’t shy away from the summer heat and have the added bonus of being deer resistant. Many cultivars flower from June through September–and sometimes into October–and are known for their flower power.
The Home Gardening Center features a number of cultivars which include a few winners in the world of coreopsis. One of my favorites is ‘Route 66’. It is an interesting alternative to your predominately yellow tickseeds. This cultivar has a red eye that bleeds into the yellow petals to produce a brilliant contrast.
Last week we looked at coral bells and covered some of the dark leaved options that are grown in this garden and easy to find on the market. This week we are going to look at some spectacular options for sunny sites.
Coral bells were traditionally thought of as shade lovers. Heuchera villosa, however, is a species that is native to southeastern U.S. It is an adaptable species that thrives in full sun to part shade, grows happily in soils ranging from slightly wet to slightly dry and is unfazed by high humidity. Understandably, it is a popular plant for southern gardens.
Hybridizers have latched on to this species and it is now part of the parentage of many successful hybrids. The French hybridizer, Thierry Delabroye has taken the world of coral bells by storm by flooding the market with a number of mouthwatering cultivars that are designed to make you either hungry or thirsty. Delabroye’s offerings include cultivars such as ‘Carmel’, ‘Brownies’, ‘Mocha’, ‘Pistache’, ‘Tiramisu’, ‘Pinot Gris’, and ‘Beaujolais’. We have used a number of these cultivars in container displays. This year we are growing ‘Brownies’ in the Trial Bed Garden in the Home Gardening Center.
The reputation of Heuchera ‘Brownies’ as an attractive and adaptable coral bell is attested to by the fact that it is flourishing in the challenging environment of New York’s High Line park. Its foliage emerges brown and then transforms into a greenish brown with a rich purple-red underside. Like the majority of Heuchera villosa hybrids it features large foliage and has a fuzzy texture. It grows over a foot tall and forms a generous two foot clump.
When I started gardening, I thought of coral bells (Heuchera) as a pleasant choice for the front of a shade border or a nice accent in a tapestry of low growing woodland inhabitants.
I now have a much deeper appreciation for this versatile plant. While some of it has to do with an increased knowledge in horticulture, and a better understanding of the dynamics of design and what constitutes a garden-worthy plant, part of my growing admiration comes from the vast strides that have been made by hybridizers over the past decade.
In our Trial Bed Garden in the Home Gardening Center we have a bed that is devoted to coral bells. It has been there several years so I have been able to watch and see not only how the Huechera have performed during the growing season but also how they have held up over several winters.
On one end of the bed we have planted a coral bell named ‘Black Out.’ One objective of Heuchera hybridizing programs has been a search for the coral bell with the darkest foliage. The results has been a number of newer cultivars that range from chocolate brown to deep burgundy brown, with the ultimate goal of producing a Huechera with true-black foliage.
Heuchera ‘Black Out’ is one of the blackest coral bells on the market. It has glossy deep burgundy foliage that transitions into black with burgundy overtones on its undersides. ‘Black Out’s maple-shaped foliage is medium sized and has a compact shape (without being too small) that makes it ideal for container plantings. All of the plants survived this past winter, although a few of them died back a little and are not as vigorous this year. In general, however, their performance has been good.
Another winner in our Trial Bed Garden is Heuchera ‘Frosted Violet Dream’. This coral bell has deep burgundy foliage that is mottled with silver. The maple-shaped foliage shimmers in a garden setting. It is another medium sized coral bell that is a vigorous grower with a spectacular performance record in this garden. In early to mid summer this coral bell is covered with an attractive haze of dainty pink flowers.
One of the casualties in our garden this year was a cultivar called ‘Sugar Plum’. While it performed beautifully last season, it struggled over the winter and we ended up replacing it this year. We were growing this cultivar in full sun whereas it would normally be happier in part shade. I am not sure if that contributed to its demise; poor drainage is a more likely explanation.
I would love to hear back with your experiences. What are your favorite black coral bells on the market and how do they perform in your gardens? Next time we will look at some coral bells that are ideal for tough, sunny locations: the Heuchera villosa hybrids.
