Soft pink in a leafy plant
Pink in a Heuchera is gentle. You get rose and blush flower sprays on thin stems, and leaf colours from peach and apricot to dusky plum with pink veins. Because the genus hybridises freely, new combinations keep appearing, so check a plant label for leaf colour and flower colour separately.
Pink for a bouquet
The wiry stems and tiny bells make a light, airy filler in hand-tied posies. Pink sprays suit a cottage-garden mix with sweet peas or roses and allow flowers to be cut in early summer without spoiling the plant, since the leaves are the main display.
Good places to plant
- Shaded or semi-shaded borders where hostas and ferns provide a leafy base.
- Window boxes and containers by a porch, with gritty compost.
- Under deciduous shrubs, where winter light reaches the leaves.
Maintenance
Pick off faded flower stems and, in spring, remove old leaves from the base. Replant every few years: Heuchera forms a woody stem that rises out of the soil, so lift it and bury it deeper.
Vine weevil is the main pest. Grubs eat the roots, and the plant collapses suddenly. Check containers in autumn and again in spring.
No worries for pets
Pet owners will be glad to know that the ASPCA lists Heuchera sanguinea as non-poisonous to dogs, cats and horses, so a pink pot on the patio is a friendly choice. Vine weevil grubs in the compost are a bigger worry than the plant.
