Heucheras - the Most Colorful Foliage Plants
Create Colorful Gardens Even When Nothing is in Flower
Sep 18, 2009
Heucheras come in more foliage colors than any other plant. In fact they come in almost every color but blue.
Heucheras are relatively un-fussy to grow, as long as they have good drainage. Their green form is native to parts of the US and is hardy from zones 4-9. Thanks to sporting and careful cross breeding they now come in shades from plain green to green with white predominating to black, with shades of silver, pewter, purple, peach, amber, gold, yellow, red and many plants with multicolored foliage in between. Green foliage is easy to find so Iet’s concentrate on the more unusual foliage colors. '
Warm Colors
Amber Waves is aptly named, with foliage that is a deep syrup golden color. Marmalade is nearly orange – but you can see how it got its name just by glancing at it. Peach Flambe and Peachy Keen are also in a rosy golden range of color, while Tira Misu strays closer to the yellow gold range. Lime Rickey, on the other hand, is an electrifying chartreuse that really stands out among dark foliage – as do all of the plants in this category.
Predominantly Purple
- Ebony and Ivory sports a mass of deep purple foliage and is topped with wands of ivory flowers. Most of the non-green heucheras’ flowers are fairly inconsequential, but this pairing is intriguing.
- Plum Pudding is a shiny plum purple, somewhat reddish in tone and not quite as deep as many of its counterparts in the purple family.
- Palace Purple is the most commonly available heucheras, a fairly deep, matte purple that is deservedly popular for the way it mixes with light, bright foliage and flora.
- Purple Petticoats has deep, frilly purple foliage which retains its color in warmer climates. (In colder climates, heucheras go dormant.)
- Starry Night is a standout with its dark purple foliage and multitudinous spikes or voluptuous flowers – 14”spikes each holding from 100-200 buds that start out pink, open to white – and then rebloom if cut back!
- Tango has foliage of metallic purple and hot pink flowers. It makes a great specimen plant.
- Vesuvius is so named because of the way the mound of purple foliage suddenly erupts into orangey red – even in half shade.
Red/Burgundy
- Ruby Veil is, in fact, ruby red, veiled with slate gray veins. This one is very sun tolerant.
- Sparkling Burgundy can take a lot of sun, and its burgundy foliage holds up well all season.
- Black Beauty is something of a misnomer, depending on how you site this plant. The dark, glossy leaves, backed in red, grow fairly upright, so when the sun hits them from behind they glow crimson.
Black
- Obsidian is extremely dark – nearly true black, and holds that color all season even in part sun. This could be stunning planted with plants with white foliage –very dramatic!
- Velvet Night’s foliage is also slate black, but it is veiled over with metallic purple. Both of these plants look superb with gold hostas – or any gold or chartreuse foliage, for that matter.
Brown
- Chocolate Ruffles has finely frilled foliage (try saying that three times quickly!) that is a nice chocolate brown on top and burgundy on the bottom. It sends up thousands of small purplish flowers on purple spikes.
- City Lights is a bronze-brown – actually more chocolate colored than Chocolate Ruffles, and very vigorous. This one too has outstanding floral displays in luminous cream.
- Chinook’s leaves are glossy brown and ruffled and sports salmon colored flowers – a lovely combination. It needs full sun to reach its best coloration. Plant this – or any of these brown/bronze leafed plants – with the annual coleus which can often be found in similar shades of peach for a stunning effect.
Multicolored
- Autumn Haze actually has four seasons of colors – many colors from pink to cinnamon to purple to frosted. This one will languish without good drainage.
- Can Can creates a tight, frilly mound of purple leaves heavily frosted in metallic silver and gray. Place it where it will get morning light.
- Cascade Dawn is deep purple veining on pale lavender foliage. This is also especially lovely planted where it can catch the morning light.
- Gypsy Dancer is a great choice for gardeners in warmer climates as it doesn’t require the long cold treatment that most heucheras demand. A fairly small plant it has bright silvery foliage with charcoal veins.
- Hollywood is as glamorous as its name – white veiled, metallic leaves edged in ruffles, this is probably one of the showiest heucheras available.
- Persian Carpet could almost be woven, like its namesake, sporting intertwined colors of purple, silver and gray. And the colors change with the seasons so this plant never gets boring.
- Pewter Veil emerges coppery pink in spring, then changes to a mix of pewter and silver in summer. The foliage is rather large, making this a great plant to bring light to a gloomy spot.
- Green Spice has leaves that are edged in dark gray, overlaid in silver with purple veins – so one has to wonder why it is named as it is. Despite the misnomer this plant has big, smooth bright foliage, is vigorous and deserves a place in the garden.
The copyright of the article Heucheras - the Most Colorful Foliage Plants in Perennial Plants is owned by Carol Wallace. Permission to republish Heucheras - the Most Colorful Foliage Plants in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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