Sid's Blog

Hi Sid this the one with dark red veins through amber leaves? Not sure how much you paying - here they re £2.50 for 6" pot size. Thought most heuchera propogated by division .

Hi Sid,
We found that our 'Palace Purple' have needed the 'shock treatment'. After about 3 years of growing them they became very leggy and lost their bulk and mass. We divided them last year and replanted them and they appear to be forming a reasonable set of plants again.Unfortunately we didnt have much success with Creme Brule. Im not sure if this is because our garden is a container garden, but they failed to do well although they were growing in good compost and in large pots.We also tried altering their location, but this didnt help to improve their growth in any way.The examples I have seen this year of Creme Brule for sale in the garden centres have not been particularly good so far.
Happy gardening and best wishes,
Grenville.

Hi Sarah...I had the same circumstance with my Purple Palace...(adore these plants) but the bunny in the backyard likes them even more than I do! I've started putting out lettuce and carrots and pellets to distract him/her hope it works...cause my H. Peach Melba got partially consumed by mice! There is also a var. called "Caramel" too.
when the crown diverges, I take a few and put them elsewhere...and mound some fresh topsoil around the remaining crowns.
The flower heads of PP are beautiful frothy things...a grouping in a bed looks like a pink cloud hovering over the irridescent/metalic leaves... as I said (adore these plants)
Lori

Well, I'm pleased to report that although I lost the auction (the plant eventually went for £6-ish), the seller got in touch and let me have one for £3.99 including postage. So I've got my plant!

Bonkers - Hi, not one with red veins. This had caramel coloured leaves with crimson bits. I'll post a picture when it arrives. Haven't seen any round here for as little as £2.50, but they should be coming down in price now me thinks - some varieties have been around for quite a while now. Re dividing the plants - I had a good look at my H. 'Purple Palace' and all the stems seemed to converge on a single stem and therefore couldn't be divided. I also have a Heucherella 'Rachel' (a hybird Heuchera x Tierella) and I think I can divide that one.

Grenville - sorry yours did not do so well. :-( When plants in containers die in my garden I usually blame it on vine weevil grubs. Did you examine the roots?

Lori - I know what you mean about Heucheras - I adore these plants too! There are some real crackers out there - I really want H. 'Ebony & Ivory' and, oh, loads others! Last year bought H. 'Velvet Night', which is gorgeous and I recommend it! (intense red with silver mottling). Hope the mice behave this year ;-)

Aww, I'm so glad you have got your plant.
In my experience gardeners who Ebay have been very helpful ( lots of after care advice) and generous ( supplying more plant material than auctioned).

This is my first e-bay purchase and I can see that I might become a bit addicted!

Another good heuchera is 'Obsidian' - really dark purple leaves.
'Amber Waves' is a poor grower and I've never got it through the winter in a border. Tried six different heucheras in pots last year and overwintered them in a cold frame - guess which was the only one infected with vine weevil? :-(

Hi Andrew - I don't think I've come across 'Obsidian' - I will look out for it. Two members have told me they've lost 'Creme Brule' through the winter, so I'm a bit worried about it now. But my other Heucheras seem to be going strong, so hopefully they like the conditions enough here to survive the winter - fingers crossed. Sorry to hear you've been struck by the dreaded vine weevil - I've only had problems with them in containers rather than in the ground, but I will keep an eye on my Heucheras now!

I have just joined! found this site through a heuchera search...It's great to find other heuchera nut's. It's taken me a few years of lost plants to discover they really do need to be devided. A job for the autumn. I hope we can keep the thread going. Anyone know of a dedicated site? I know hosta feinds have one Anyone know of a site? time to start one it not.