Some of these are plants that have survived at least one season. Others are ones that were planted early enough in the season and looked quite healthy going into the Fall.

(I purposely cover such plants with 'extra' leaves hoping to even out the temperature changes)..

im starting to remember why i quit growing them .. lol ... they were not long lived perennials ...

you most likely know.. that heave is a function of the soil going in and out of freeze .. so covering the soil.. deep enough ..... that soil temp fluctuations in mid winter.. dont happen ... is the key

ken

Would it make sense to put a heavier weight eg a brick, on the plant once it has gone dormant? I will test this next Fall.

For all of my heurchera... I don't think they are actually heaving from the ground... it just seems that the lower leaves die down and fall off the main twisting stems as the plants grow... so after a year or two... mine are just a pile of twisting stems with all the leaves growing from the very ends. At that point, I dig them up and replant lower down with the bare stems buried.

Mine don't stay in the nice poof of leaves as I originally bought them for very long. They still seem happy though.

Heucheras are odd plants for me. They either do very well and last for years or disappear after the first winter! I've never figured out why some do well and others don't.... The purple ones generally do best - I've had almost no luck at all with green ones! I don't seem to have a problem with heave, but the crowns do gradually get taller on some of them. When they fail for me it is usually because they disappear entirely like something yanked them - there's usually a hole where they were. I'm not sure what is happening with those ones.

I doubt a brick on top of the crown for the winter would do anything other than promote rot! Test the idea on one you don't mind losing :-)

it just seems that the lower leaves die down and fall off the main twisting stems

Like this Nevermore44:

Yup. Again... I just dig it up and replant them lower so the main growing point is out of the ground. Seems to work for me.

With cold temperatures with very little snow cover, this has been a bad winter for frost heaving.

I was thinking that this winter (for you and I gdinieontario) was low on snow but temps were above normal?

Yes, but quite cold enough to get a marked contrast with the warmer days, so many freeze and thaw cycles. Which cause the soil to buck up.

I think it's a function of both freeze thaw cycles, as gdinieontario mentioned, and soil texture. I have fine sandy, well-drained soil, and only rarely have plants heave, even when fall planted. We often have snow cover all or almost all winter, sometimes with thawed soil below and sometimes frozen soil. It was a lot more likely that plants would heave when I lived in the Great Lakes area with its clay soils and more fluctuating winter temperatures.

I was just in the garden and took notice due to this thread, and the ones that I split in the fall all heaved, while the ones that were not split did not heave. Likely has to do with the small amount of root mass from the late season move as Ken mentioned, at least in this case. Doesn't seem like that for yours rouge as you mentioned some were planted in the spring.

i have a probably 40 year old mass of the oldest type of plain huechera, and that's planted in a area hemmed in by concrete on two sides. Every year it greens up and puts out pretty pink little flowers. Last year in the early spring it looked just like Rouge's picture a couple messages above this one. I wondered what happened but it filled it and bloomed fine. So now I wonder if the leaves (old and new) just masked the snakey look and it's always been doing that. LOL But I have cut away a hunk occasionally and transplanted it elsewhere, that's usually in mid May tho.

Yes as Ken said these are some whimpy expensive plants in my garden. Your question of putting a heavy brick on them is what I have done and it worked on the ones that were strong enough to survive my winters. I like thém in my hosta garden so I still buy them but I will only buy them if they are five dollars or less. Some have lived a few years others do not return after winter.

I think it's a function of both freeze thaw cycles,

I agree. It is just that I only seem to notice this effect with heucheras/heucherellas.

Lack of snow cover has not only heaved the heuchera for me, I see many losses. I have found several plants fully out of the ground too, and they were not heuchera. Some dead due to desiccation, even though we did have rain, I could not monitor everything.

But that shot doesn't show fine fibrous roots that were heaved from the ground... I'm just seeing a few thicker advantageous roots from the stems being in contact with the ground. We had a fairly mild winter this year and my heuchera look like this.... No heaving involved.

I have the same issue with heucheras either declining during the winter or disappearing entirely. I have assumed this is partly due to rabbits or voles.

But that shot doesn't show fine fibrous roots that were heaved from the ground..

This wan't the example I was referencing when I first posted. If I remember I will try to take a pic when I am out and about.

Many of the newer heuchera introductions were rushed to market without being fully trialed resulting in very short longevity in northern gardens. Some of them are not going to survive no matter what precautions you take. Those that are good performers for me and have been in the ground 4-5 years are: Southern Comfort, Snow Fire (NOT Snow Angel), Citronelle, Mardi Gras, Autumn Bride, the straight villosa species, Palace Passion, Venus and Smokey Rose.

felisar, are any of those purple? I have had very good luck with Citronelle, but any purple heucheras don't last for me.

Yes, Mardi Gras, Palace Passion some strains of the villosa species are burgundy. The one I have in my garden has leaves the size of my palms and in late summer is about 18" high by 24" wide. One of my favorites. Mardi Gras is more streaked in color than the others. I see you live in Illinois. I am in the western Chicago suburbs so these should do well for you.

Along with Palace Purple, Plum Pudding has been the most reliable returnee. At present,my heucheras (and some of the geraniums) are looking distinctly bare stemmed and ratty...but will fill out as the season progresses. My auriculas are often bare stems (like an aging miniature over-wintered cabbages) and yet, within days, those scaly stems will vanish beneath new growth as each rosette fills in fully and abundantly. Frost heave never happens in my sandy dry soil...although clay soils are nothing like as forgiving.

"Many of the newer heuchera introductions were rushed to market without
being fully trialed resulting in very short longevity in northern
gardens."

felisar you are right. It is why I do not purchase any terra nova creations. They do not trial in enough areas if they did they would not be able to say zone ?.

The seem to have good survival if you live in cold and lots of snow or mild winter without constant swing cold wet winter areas ..... stable weather. My weather is herc murder 50s and rain for few days and over night temp drop below freezing for a week followed by repeat warm up. It is rinse, repeat frozen water murder.

Thanks, felisar! I am in the NW suburbs. Always love the dark foliage, though it's been challenging finding ones that will survive for me.