For years, I've been the place that fine looking Heucheras and Heucherellas go to die. They would proceed over the course of a season or perhaps two, to dwindle and die. I tried every open bed position I could find..and they just weren't happy.

Three years ago, my attention was captured by a lovely little tiarella, 'Iron Butterfly'. Not knowing where I could put it that taller perennials wouldn't overwhelm it, I noticed that other than some small weeds and ferns, there was really nothing planted under the eaves on the north side. I plopped it there and it liked it and expanded and filled in till it's more than a foot and a half clump now and continues to look fresh all year.

It occurred to me that this place duplicated what I saw in nature with native heucheras. Many grow under rock overhangs on cliffs, in that dry place where only a few odd rains hit directly (if at all) and where there is very little competition. They may also have a proclivity for limey soils, as my area is heavily limestone based.

So I've always liked 'Sweet Tea' and while I didn't find another of those to torture to death, I did find a 'Caramel' and planted it right against the house in the drier spot under the eaves on the north side of my brick home. It has thrived, it's huge, it's flowered literally all summer and still pushing flowers out.

Last year I added a native heuchera villosa arkansana, one of our endemics and one of the parents of many of the new hybrids. While it was a seedling last year, it did manage to send up a couple of flower stalks and has looked decent quite decent. I expect greater things of it next year.

I added a no-name in a gallon pot (where it still is...because I got it too late to put in ground, due to summer dryness) which resembles 'Glitter'. It has done well for being subject to vagarities of culture, like it's care-taker forgetting to water it at all during the late summer. It should be planted early next week into it's permanent location.

I may have to see what I can add next year, a new heuchera or heucherella a year?