It does seem that gardeners either have great success or almost utter failure with these plants. I fall into the success category for the most part. I do look for Heuchera with villosa in their breeding.

It would not be desirable to cut and cover them. They are evergreen even in my zone. In spring I just cut off any tatty leaves.

I have Heuchera, Tiarella and Heucherella all planted in partial shade. I have found that they are happiest with an eastern exposure. The only one being testy is Heuchera 'Miracle' which is getting quite a lot of sun. Once I move it I am sure it will thrive.

My soil is sandy loam which is their preference. They do like a moisture retentive soil that also drains well.

The two I have had for the longest are Heuchera sanguinea and H. micrantha 'Palace Purple'. I have had them for 15 years give or take.

I still have great fondness for H. sanguinea but it does need dividing every few years. It has lost favor in recent years because it is plain green but the flowers are red and the hummingbirds enjoy them. There are many named varieties on the market.

H. micrantha 'Palace Purple' has been growing for years without division. Great performer.

Heucherella 'Rosalie' has been planted since 2004 and is badly in need of division. H. 'Sweet Tea' seems to do well for most but I have not got mine planted yet.

I have grown Tiarella wherryi for years.

Heuchera 'Caramel' performs really well for most regardless of zone, including me.

Very fond of Heuchera 'Kassandra', 'Venus', 'Prince of Orange'...

It is extremely rare that I type this much (I am a super slow typist) but it is freeeezing. It hope this helps

Thank you both! Peren.all, you've given me several nice varieties to consider :) Thanks much for taking the time to type/share it.

Heuchera do well here for me, have had very little trouble with them and haven't paid attention to the breeding parent. In my yard it seems a dry spell doesn't hurt them. The only,problems I've had is with fall sale purchases. I've had a few fall purchases die or return so small it took three seasons to acquire the size at purchase. I'm guessing not enough good weather to establish in the fall, I avoid the sales now and plant only early in the season.

Sherry

Ontario 6b

It is a beauty, thank you :)

Cherry Cola has also been a winner with such amazing flowers.

I love its color (both foliage and flowers), but wish the foliage were a bit taller.

Pampered, I got it in June of 2016 so it was not even a year old in this picture. Hopefully it will continue to put on size.

The biggest problem I've had is oriental beetles eating my plants to the ground and then them not recovering. I've lost several plants that way and they seem to prefer the red leaved ones. Didn't realize that's what they were until this year when I discovered them feasting at night.

We have some insect issues here too, but probably not as bad as you do in warmer zone. I've used the Bayer 2-in-1 for the past couple of years and liked it, but I do wonder if it's affecting bees too...

I sprayed some but what seemed most effective was to go out at dusk and squish them or drop them into a jar of soapy water. I did this 2-3 times a night for a couple of weeks and hope reduced the damage this year significantly. That said, they still killed 4 plants before I caught them this year.

I had never heard of oriental beetles before - similar to Japanese Beetles but they emerge a few weeks earlier and aren't as good at flying so they eat the closest thing they can find that they like. They ate all the leaves on 'Citronelle', 'Sugar Plum', 'Carnival Silver' Streak, and a Heucherella "Solar Eclipse" before I realized what was going on and went on the attack. This is the 3rd year I've had Heucheras destroyed and it took this long to figure out the cause since they only emerge at night.

The Japanese Beetles that come a few weeks later eat leaves as well but they weren't nearly as big of a problem.

I'm a fan of systemics, not sprays. Can't say for sure how effective they are, but the combination of fertilizer and insecticide did seem to do the plants well with the exception of those that got fertilizer burn thanks to me.

These are one of my favorite plants. I have about 28 different varieties in varying light conditions and they do really well. Great plants to add color to your garden.

Ignored, I’m a sucker for buying these plants! I love them but I wish they did better for me. I’ve had success with Caramel, purple palace, beaujolais, sweet tea (heucherella) and a few others. Most will do very well for the first couple of years and then just die over the winter. This doesn’t stop me from buying more though. Tiarellas do much better but aren’t as colorful as heuchera. I’m also in NE Ohio. Just curious, where are you in Ohio?

Carol, that sounds like what I was reading about them before, and is why I've been hesitant to try them, but I think that at least Caramel deserves a try.

You might have seen me on the Hosta forum before since I "hang out" there the most, but I've changed my user name a few times (location has stayed the same though). I'm right by Brecksville. It's wonderful to meet more folks from this area!

In my southern locale (7a), I was almost ready to write them off as a lost cause, but then a tiarella somehow snuck into my planting cart and I tried a new location (foundation planting on north wall) and it lived. Next year (last year) I tried a heuchera 'Caramel' which is looking great along the same wall. I also (being a native plant nut) bought the species americana, and it's doing great as well.

The soil along the foundation is behind the roof drip line and a little higher (thus drier) and seems to have been sandier than my normal clay. All these things probably have something to do with survival. Before this localation, they diminished all season and died over winter.

The ones based off of Americana or Villosa strains seem to do better in the south.

'Caramel' is from Villosa and has done well for me too as well as another one by the same hybridizer called 'Brownies' that is even more vigorous but not quite as pretty.

The 'Dale's Strain' that I have in abundance (along with its seedlings) is from Americana and is so vigorous that it borders on being weedlike.

It's been 2 years since my original post, and I've not had a chance to try heuchera quite the way I thought I would have by now. Just recently got my first heucherella (Solar Eclipse) and don't have high hopes for it, but had to get it and try. Now I'm wondering about something else... Are there any heuchera/tiarella/heucherella cultivars that you've noticed are munched on less by rabbits and deer? Both have been quite a problem here in the last couple of years (especially deer), and I've had enough of them eating the hostas to the ground. Hoping that there are some heuchera etc. that are not as appealing to them!

I’m in zone 6. this one never gets eaten by deer Or rabbits. It doesn’t get any special treatment: planted in sandy soil, gets pummeled by the sun daily, no watering, no fertilizer. It just survives. I mean the caterpillars aren’t even thinking about eating these hardy ones here. I have my caramel, mega caramel and dolce wild berry which are all very delicate. They die if you look at them wrong. LOL

Chris, LOL, it figures that more of the ones on my list would be delicate! I forgot to mention that, in addition to rabbits and deer, slugs are bad here too.

What is the name of the one in your pic? The dark color looks like it would blend into our mulch, but I need to make a new list with any that have shown more pest resistance such as yours.

I’m not sure as I inherited them when I bought the house. They might be Obsidian. It’s very dark when the come out in spring.