The Best Coral Bells (Heuchera)

Christmas followed by a week’s vacation in Costa Rica has me running behind, so it’s just a quick post this week to pass along some great gardening information. The Mount Cuba Center in Delaware trialed 83 different cultivars of coral bells (Heuchera) and published their findings along with nice pictures of the 10 best. Visitors also voted on their favorites. You can follow this link, if you want to read the whole report.

I have over two dozen different Heuchera in my garden, three of which made the Mount Cuba Center’s top 10 list, so that leaves 7 potential new Heuchera for me to try. The one I’m most excited to add this spring is their #10 pick, which was the visitor’s #1 pick, ‘Spellbound’.

Heuchera ‘Spellbound’

‘Spellbound’ was bred by Terra Nova Nurseries, the same breeding magicians responsible for almost half the plants on this list, including the #9 pick, ‘Southern Comfort’. I’ve grown ‘Southern Comfort’ for years, and posted several pictures on this blog. It’s my favorite Heuchera, and I’m surprised it wasn’t rated higher.

Heuchera ‘Southern Comfort’ growing in my garden.

I also grow this #8 pick, ‘Frosted Violet’. It’s my second favorite Heuchera.

Heuchera ‘Frosted Violet’

I haven’t grown the next 7 yet, and I’m too lazy to contact a bunch of people for pictures, but you can follow the links on the names, or look at pictures on Mt. Cuba’s report (here’s another link).

#7 ‘Apple Crisp’

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#5 ‘Steel City’

#4 ‘Color Dream’

#3 ‘Cajun Fire’

#2 ‘Bronze Wave’ – This one’s going on my “want” list too.

And their #1 pick is ‘Citronelle’, which I grow and find inferior to ‘Southern Comfort’ and ‘Frosted Violet’, but it’s not my list.

Heuchera ‘Citronelle’

A few pieces of advice about growing coral bells:

They need shade to part shade. Up North you can get away with giving them more light, but at the trial garden the Heuchera were grown in 4 hours or less sun, except for bright, yellow-green cultivars like ‘Citronelle’ which were grown in 0 hours.

Heuchera do very well in containers, but if you want to grow them in the ground, their ideal soil type is moist, yet well-drained. Soil that stays damp may cause them to rot. Once established they can adapt to drier soils, but they don’t grow as big. The more vigorous a specific cultivar is, the better it will do under less than perfect conditions, and so even if you don’t have excellent soil, these 10 are worth trying.