Northeast Gardening: Reviewing 2015 Projects and Plants, Challenges and Results, 1 by DonnaMack

DonnaMack wrote:
The only heuchera (and I tried about 20) that survives year after year (some are 8 plus years old) is Firefly. I found the seed at JL Hudson and started growing them. I even grow them for clients. One of the tricks is to dig them up every three years or so and divide them, put them deeper in the ground and surround them with compost. I found that it is one that can lodge and survive. And it\'s true from seed. I grew about ten in 2009 and brought them all to my new house, where they have thrived. And they grow, in my yard in anything from full sun (with some water) to just about full shade (with no care). I grew them because I loved \'Cherries Jubilee\' but I had to keep replacing it, and the cost went from $7.99 to $13.99. A friend of mine gave me some native and near native ones (\'Dales Strain\' being just one) and they either keeled or are the same size (small) after 5 years.

I do have a theory that plants you grow from seed are sometimes stronger. I was given a store bought digitalis mertonensis that did not do well. Then last year I grew them from seed. I started them in December, put them in to overwinter (which tends to be when you lose them) and of the five I installed four came up and bloomed and rebloomed. They are overwintering nicely. Since they cost about $14 each I am a very happy camper!

Here they are with the foliage of platycodon grandiflorus grown from seed (on the right), and campanula takesimana \'Bellringers\' from Bluestone. The foliage effect of the three is great, but for heaven\'s sake don\'t grow the campanula unless you are prepared to dig it up and divide it every two years! But it is great for beating down creeping charlie and violets, so I am using it to do just that!

In the second picture are my original takesimanas. I just love them with geranium biolovo (thank you Gemini Sage aka Neal, for sending them to me!) peony Lady Alexandra Duff and allium christophii. As you can see I am a cool color girl but I also adore texture. The trick, I find, is to keep aggressive plants from overwhelming others and destroying your design. Not that this was really a design. I just kept slapping in plants wherever I had space!