Geykhera blood red planting and care in the open field

It is not difficult to grow Heuchera in the open field, you just need to choose the right place for planting the plant. Many varieties grow and reproduce well even in the mountainous regions of North America, so caring for Heuchera in our latitudes is very simple, because it can grow even on rocky soil. In addition, its decorativeness and versatility will bring new shades into any landscape design.

Description of heuchera: varieties and varieties

So what is this miracle - Heuchera? An evergreen perennial plant with a height of 40-60 cm. The leaves are medium in size, round in shape, sit on long petioles and form a rosette at the root. Heuchera blooms from late May until autumn. The flowers form a panicle inflorescence about 20 cm long. After flowering, fruit-boxes with seeds are formed.

Heuchera decorative deciduous

The cultivated varieties of Heuchera can be conditionally divided into two categories:

• decorative deciduous;
• decorative blooming.

Heuchera is decorative with its foliage: no other plant has such a variety of palettes and leaf textures. Heuchera flowers noticeably lose to the leaves, but there are varieties that are valued precisely for the inflorescences, they create a great color contrast with the foliage of the plant.

To date, about 400 varieties of Heuchera have already been bred, their shades and varieties will satisfy the most refined taste and will find their place in any landscape design.

At the moment, cylindrical, American and blood-red varieties of Heuchera are especially popular. Now let's look at these varieties in more detail with a photo.

1. Heichera blood red... It has denser leaves than other plant species. This species is the most popular; other varieties of Heucher were developed on its basis. Bell-shaped flowers, color from red to pink. Blooms from June to August. Easy to care for, drought tolerant, but requires shade planting. The most famous varieties: Monet, Hercules, Robusta.

   Heykhera blood red

2. American Geichera... It is a cultivar with rounded leaves and yellow-green flowers. The variety is distinguished by a variety of foliage colors, shades and borders. In spring and autumn, the leaves have the most intense hue, in summer it becomes paler.

   American Geichera

3. Heuchera is cylindrical. This variety of Heuchera is larger than the others, preferring sunny places or a little partial shade. Cylindrical inflorescences: green, coral or red. Leaves are green.

   Heuchera cylindrical

4. Heuchera small-flowered... The most famous variety "Purple Castle" is very popular with bright purple leaves with a metallic sheen. Frost-resistant and drought-resistant, easy to care for, moreover, keeps leaves under the snow until spring.

   Heuchera small-flowered

Planting a plant

Before planting, you need to choose a place and prepare the soil. Geykhera combines well with other perennials and is not aggressive towards them, so it can be safely planted in a company with other types of plants or a flowerbed made from different varieties of geykhera.

The plant feels great in any neighborhood

The plant prefers light and nutritious soils where water does not stagnate. Acidic soil does not suit her. Before planting, you need to add coarse river sand or pebbles to the soil. Seedlings should be planted in May at a distance of 20-25 cm and watered regularly, but not waterlogged, otherwise the plant may die. Heuchera can be planted in open ground by seeds, cuttings, or by separating the rosette of an adult bush.

Plant care

As for leaving, in this respect, Heuchera is very unpretentious. But there are some conditions, and these are:

• diffused shadow;
• deep drainage;
• permeable soil.

Heuchera, planted in the shade of trees or in partial shade, will retain its decorative effect, since it needs the sun in the morning. It is worth planting varieties with red leaves on sunny areas, it is in the sun that they will turn red, but in the shade they will remain green. But many varieties adapt to the sun - the silvery mosaic of their foliage takes on a richer color, and the heuchera with purple foliage darkens.

In the shade, heuchera leaves will acquire rich shades.

The root system of Heuchera is shallow, so it is important to protect the roots from drying out. It is best to apply mulching. Mulch will retain moisture, the soil beneath it breathes and is structured by soil inhabitants. As mulch, you can use straw, sawdust, compost, tree bark, foliage, expanded clay screenings, gravel, peat.

The soil must be permeable - from stagnant water, the plant can get sick and die. Therefore, you should take care of drainage even when planting a plant.

Aging heuchera bushes lose their decorative effect - the middle of the bush is exposed. In this case, you need to rejuvenate the bush: dig up the plant, divide it into parts and plant it. This should be done in late summer after flowering or in spring before the leaves open. Heuchera tolerates these manipulations painlessly and immediately starts to grow.

Soil mulching will help Heuchera maintain moisture balance

Dried foliage is not removed in winter - it helps the plant to overwinter, covers the roots and retains heat. Remove only inflorescences with seeds - after flowering, they spoil the decorative appearance. In the future, the collected seeds can be used for propagation and cultivation of Heuchera in the open field. Varieties with light foliage and young bushes for the winter need to be additionally covered with foliage.

Advice. Water the plants early in the morning or in the evening, drops of water in the sun can burn the leaves.

Fertilizer and feeding of Heuchera

Before being domesticated by man, Heuchera grew in the mountains, where the soil is rather scarce. Modern varieties are still not far from their wild relatives, so they do not complain about the small amount of nutrients in the soil. Mineral fertilizers are rarely used. Better to limit yourself to one dressing in the spring in the first year after planting. If you did not do this in spring, then feed Heuchera with mineral complex fertilizer for deciduous plants at the end of the growing season. After fertilizing, be sure to water the bushes.

There is no need for regular plant feeding

Important. When applying fertilizers, be sure to halve the dose recommended by the manufacturer on the package.

Plant propagation

Reproduction by dividing the bush is the simplest way, which preserves the decorativeness of the variety. This is done in early spring or autumn. Separate the rosette from the adult plant and transplant a little deeper than the mother plant was planted.

The second way is grafting. A 4-6 cm stalk is cut from the bush in the summer and rooted in a greenhouse. The process takes 3-4 weeks, after which the finished plant can be planted.

Division of the heuchera bush

Diseases and pests

As for diseases, Heuchera is unique in that it practically does not get sick in the open field, and is rarely affected by pests. But sometimes it can suffer from powdery mildew, rust, gray mold or leaf blight. This can happen if the plant is frequently watered, or the soil is poorly drained and the water stagnates at the roots, creating an ideal environment for pathogens to thrive. From an excess of fertilizers, the plant "fattens", which leads to a weakening of the immune system. Powdery mildew can be defeated by spraying with a fungicide, after removing diseased leaves, and the Bordeaux mixture will cope with spotting and rust.

Rust on a Heuchera leaf

As for pests, the danger to the plant is posed by the beetle larvae, which can gnaw at the roots, grape snails, slugs, caterpillars and leaf nematodes, which can be removed with an insecticide.

Advice. Slugs hide in secluded places from the sun during the day, so you can put a board, slate, cardboard or a piece of old linoleum near the geyhera, and collect slugs under them in the morning.

Heuchera: combination with other plants

Thanks to the contrasting combination of heuchera leaves with the leaves of other plants, you can create unique compositions. Geuchera is planted with hosts, kupen, ferns, hellebores, daylilies, combined with decorative cereals, bruner, irises, barberries.

Heuchera will decorate your garden even in autumn, when other plants have faded

Heuchera goes well with tall conifers, acts as an addition for short roses. In spring, it is good to place with tulips: after they have faded, the flower bed is not empty.

Geichera in landscape design

Do not be afraid to experiment with planting Heuchera in your area. Like precious stones, Heuchera will decorate any flower garden; no other flower culture has such a rich palette with an abundance of colors and shades.

A huge advantage of Heuchera is its decorative effect during the entire growing season and ease of maintenance. Heuchera is grown both in single plantings of the same species, and in mixed ones, used as a perennial ground cover plant. With its compact bush shape, Heuchera is an ideal companion to combine with other plants. This is a real find for those cases when you need to fill the space in the flower garden or highlight the dignity of another plant, highlight the planting of conifers.

Geichera in landscape design

Geykhera does not lose its decorative shape with age, therefore it will ideally fit into flower beds of strict geometric shapes, mask unsightly areas. Geichera is suitable for creating alpine slides, rocky gardens, borders, decoration of terraces and gazebos. She can decorate garden sculptures, slides and fountains. Often used for planting in ceremonial flower beds.

In the first year after planting Heuchera, it will be difficult to assess its merits in landscape design - just planted, it will not yet become such a magnificent beauty, but already in the next season you will be able to enjoy the density of colors.

Heuchera varieties and their cultivation: video

Geichera: photo

Heuchera is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the Saxifrage family. In the natural environment, it lives in the rocky areas of North America. The name is given in honor of the German doctor, botanist Johann Heinrich von Heicher.

Heuchera is a compact bushes about 50 cm high with exquisite, luxurious leaves that change their color during the growing season, and more than once. No other plant can match the rich palette and varied combinations of variegated colors.

Geichera in landscape design photo

Leaves are leathery, attached on long petioles, have serrated edges. They can be smooth, corrugated, curly. The leaves can be colored bright red, almost black, maroon, amber, pink, purple, yellow, green, silver with stripes, specks, specks, patterns.

There are decorative leafy and decorative flowering heucheras. Small bell-shaped flowers are painted in white, cream, red, they are collected in paniculate inflorescences. Flowering will last all summer, it can bloom until frost. The fruit is a capsule filled with small seeds (1 g contains about 20,000 seeds).

Growing Heuchera from seeds When to sow for seedlings

Heychera seeds photo

Heuchera is propagated by seed and vegetative method.

During seed propagation, the species and varietal characteristics of the plant are lost if the seeds are collected from hybrid forms. Therefore, it is better to purchase seeds in specialized stores. Then your work will not be useless, and the result will please.

How and when to plant seeds for seedlings

Heuchera from seeds growing for seedlings photo shoots

You can sow seeds:

• in open ground (by the end of April)
• grow seedlings (in early March).

Do not plant the seeds deeply, but it is best to scatter them over the surface of the substrate, lightly press into the soil with your palm and moisten from the spray bottle.

• For growing seedlings, use containers with loose, water and breathable soil.
• Cover crops with foil, ventilate regularly, moisten the soil.
• Seed germination will take about 1-1.5 months.
• The grown seedlings are carefully seated in separate skippers and continue their careful care: they are watered moderately, provided with light and warmth.

Heuchera seedlings ready for planting photo

• As the time for planting in the ground approaches, the seedlings are hardened, taking them out into the street in a place protected from the wind. Gradually increasing the length of stay, the plants are taught to the open air and the sun. When the seedlings can be outside for a full day, in the absence of night frosts, they are planted in a flower bed.

When planting young plants in a permanent place, deepen by 3-4 cm, keep a distance of 20 cm between them.

Video about growing heuchera from seeds:

Getting a lot of seedlings from seeds is the easiest and cheapest way to propagate Heuchera in your area. This plant can be used to decorate mixborders and shady areas of the garden.

Reproduction by dividing the bush

When the plant reaches the age of 3-4 years, the time for dividing the bush comes. It is recommended to do this in May or September.

How to divide a heuchera bush photo

• Each section should contain 2-3 leaf rosettes and part of the rootstock.
• It is necessary to prune roots that are too long, remove rotten areas and treat the cut with a fungicide.
• Dig a 30 by 30 planting hole, the depth is slightly more than the size of the root system.
• Maintain a distance of about 25 cm between the bushes.
• Water, mulch the site.

Propagation of heuchera by cuttings

How to cut a geyhera stalk photo

• Reproduction by cuttings is carried out in June-July.
• The stalk should be part of the bush without rhizomes.
• Partially remove the leaves at the bottom, treat the stalk with a growth stimulator: keep it in a solution of heteroauxin or root for a day.

Rooted geyhera stalk ready for planting photo

• Root in a sandy-peat mixture, covered with a transparent glass or bag.
• Ventilate daily, moderately moisten the soil (it is better to water through a tray).
• Rooting of heuchera cuttings will take 3-4 weeks. Then transplant to open ground.

Geyhera care in the garden

Geikhera variety Petite Pearl Fairy photo

Growing features:

• If you do not have a goal to collect seeds in the fall, it is better to immediately remove the peduncle of decorative deciduous heucheras, since it will rise above the bush and the plant will not look neat.
• In decorative flowering heucheras, remove the peduncle immediately after flowering.
• Falling of the lower leaves is a natural process. But the trunk is bare, therefore, before flowering, the plant should be removed from the soil and transferred into the hole so that the trunk is covered with earth.
• Young leaves are bright, but seem translucent, over time they thicken, become darker.
• In landscape design, Heuchera goes well with astilba, daylilies, primroses, incense, ornamental cereals.

Where to plant Heuchera

Heuchera is shade-tolerant. Grows well in the shade of other plants. The best place would be the west or east side, where access to sunlight is possible only in the morning or evening hours. Varieties with red leaves grow well under the sun, variegated forms will also be brighter under the influence of direct sunlight.

Watering

When grown in the sun, water regularly; on dry, hot days, do it twice a day: early in the morning and in the evenings. Stagnant water will negatively affect the condition of the plant: water less often in the shade. Pour water under the bush so that drops do not fall on the leaves.

Priming

The plant is picky about the choice of soil. Only acidic soils are contraindicated. It can grow in rocky areas, but the bush will be more luxuriant in fertile loose soil.

How to feed Heuchera

In the first year after planting or transplanting, additional feeding will not be needed. Then apply universal complex fertilizers, depending on the type of plant (decorative leafy or decorative flowering). Top dressing is applied before and after flowering, the dose should be halved from that recommended by the manufacturer.

After flowering and wintering

Flowering begins in summer and lasts about 2-3 months. Cut off the withered peduncles.

The plant overwinters in the garden. In no case should heuchera leaves be removed - they will serve as protection for the root system. Cover additionally with fallen tree leaves (preferably oak).

Types and varieties of heuchera with photos and names

The genus Heuchera has about 70 species. Conventionally, they are divided into lems and mountain ones, since in the natural environment they occupy forests and woodlands of the mountainous regions of the United States and Mexico. Let's get acquainted with the most popular species and varieties among gardeners that are used in landscape design and for breeding new varieties.

Heuchera blood-red Heuchera sanguinea

Heuchera blood-red Heuchera sanguinea photo

It has green leaves and bright red flowers. It is also called a red bell. Peduncles stretch 50 cm in length. In some varieties, the leaves have a speck of a creamy, white shade. This cold-resistant species is popular in our latitudes. Famous varieties: Hercules, Monet, Variegata.

Heuchera hairy Heuchera villosa

Heuchera hairy Heuchera villosa Bronze Wave photo

The leaves are large, velvety, peduncles and petioles are pubescent.

Popular varieties:

Heuchera variety Rachel Heuchera villosa Rachel photo in the garden

• Bronze brave is a variety with leaves about 20 cm in diameter, of a bronze shade.
• Rachel - flowers are painted in a pale pink shade.

Heuchera cylindrica

Heuchera cylindric variety Greenfinch Heuchera cylindrica Green finch photo

A bush with showy leaves. They are rounded, heart-shaped, painted green with darker veins and a silvery pattern. A cloud of small flowers of white, greenish, pink, coral hue rises on a long peduncle (about 90 cm).

Varieties:

Heuchera cylindrical variety Hyperion Heuchera cylindrica Hyperion photo

• Hyperion - the peduncle stretches 0.5 m, the flowers are red-pink.
• Greenfinch - greenish cream flowers.

Heuchera small-flowered Heuchera micrantha

Heuchera small-flowered Heuchera micrantha photo in the garden

She is considered the most spectacular.The shape of the leaf plate is similar to that of a maple leaf, with silvery spots. Peduncle about 60 cm high ends in a paniculate inflorescence, consisting of many flowers of a creamy pink hue.

The most popular varieties:

Heuchera variety Bressingham Bronze Heuchera micrantha Bresslngham Bronze photo

• Bressingham Bronze - has leaves of a red-brown color

Heuchera variety Purple castle Heuchera micrantha Palace Purple photo

• Palace Purpl - dark purple leaves.

Heuchera American Heuchera americana

Heuchera american variety green spice heuchera americana green spice photo

The leaf plates are rounded, attached on long petioles. The underside is tinted mauve, the top is yellow-green. The flowers are yellow-green.

The most popular variety is Green Spice. Green leaves have silvery spots, the main shade changes to dark yellow, the spots become larger, and the veins take on a purple hue.

Heuchera hybrid Heuchera hybrida

Heuchera hybrida cascade dawn photo

The main background of the leaf plate is green, there is a cream speck and contrasting veins. The flowers are colored white, coral, red or pink.

Varieties:

Geuchera hybrid Ruby Vale Ruby Veil photo

• Cappuccino
• Ruby Vale
• Cancan

Heuchera hybrid Beauty color heuchera beauty color photo

• Beauty Color.

Gooseberry Heuchera Heuchera grossulariifolia

Heuchera gooseberry-leaved Heuchera grossulariifolia photo

Very hardy look. The leaves are green. Peduncles reach a length of 65 cm, flowers are snow-white or yellow.

Heuchera varieties for the middle lane with photos and names

Popular varieties of geychera are already quite common in gardens; they can be seen even in city parks and squares. Let's take a closer look at the ones most beloved by our gardeners.

Heuchera Marmalade Heuchera Marmalade

Heuchera Marmalade Heuchera ‘Marmalade’ photo

The greenish-boggy shade of the leaves turns into blood red, the inflorescences are small and inexpressive, all the decorativeness of the variety is in its bright spectacular leaves, creating a refreshing contrast against the background of green neighbors.

Heuchera Berry Smoothie

Heuchera Berry Smoothie photo

Yellow-pink, with hints of peach, the color of the leaves of the berry smoothie Heuchera Berry Smoothie mesmerizes with its fantastic tenderness and charm.

Geykhera midnight rose Select Midnight rose Select

Geykhera midnight rose select Midnight rose Select photo

No less charming is the Midnight rose Select variety with a purple color of leaves, mottled with chaotic specks of pale pink color.

Heuchera Velvet Night Heuchera Velvet Night

Heuchera Velvet Knight Heuchera Velvet Night photo

The dark purple leaves of Heuchera Velvet Night are almost black in color, making them truly reminiscent of twilight at night.

Heuchera 'Zipper'

Heuchera Zipper 'Zipper' photo

The yellow-green leaves of the variety Zipper Heuchera ‘Zipper’ have a crimson color on the underside of the leaf plate, and the leaves themselves have a three-toed dissection with a coarsely toothed wavy edge.

Heuchera 'Amethyst Myst'

Heuchera Amethyst Mist Heuchera ‘Amethyst Myst’ photo

The delicate shade of purple-pink leaves of the variety Amethyst Mist Heuchera ‘Amethyst Myst’ looks luxurious against the background of neighboring brunners, periwinkle and Ayuga will become good companions.

Heuchera ‘Marvelous Marble’

Heuchera ‘Marvelous Marble’ photos

Marvelous Marble Heuchera ‘Marvelous Marble’ leaves a fantastic coloration of silvery, purple, pink and green. The marble pattern, with a clear line of expressive veins, attracts the eye even from afar.

This small plant surprises not only with its airy and delicate flowers, but also with its incredibly beautiful leaves - of various shapes and colors. In a garden of any style: English landscape, luxurious Moorish or strict regular - such a decorative deciduous perennial like Heuchera looks great. Planting and caring for this plant is quite simple and even a novice gardener can do it, but there are some nuances and rules that should be followed and taken into account when growing geyher.

Botanical characteristic

This perennial, belonging to the saxifrage family, was named after the German physician and naturalist I.G. In total, there are about 70 natural species of this plant, most of which grow in various regions of North America. Heuchera is a rather low, about 30-50 cm, herbaceous perennial, dense and variably colored long-stemmed leaves of which are collected in a basal rosette. The flowering of this plant in the middle lane can be observed in the middle of summer. If the place was chosen correctly and all the conditions were created, then in June-July each bush throws out peduncles reaching a meter in length and decorated with small flowers collected in paniculate inflorescences. They are red, pink, white, depending on the type and variety to which the Heuchera belongs. Planting and care, the photo below shows how the Heuchera villosa blooming bush of the Autumn Bride variety looks spectacular.

After flowering, a fruit-box is formed, inside which there are many very small seeds. The plant is quite frost-hardy and shade-tolerant.

Historical reference

At the very beginning of the 17th century, the botanist Karl Klusius described a plant - mountain undergrowth - brought from North America. It was then that the Heuchera flower was first mentioned in the scientific literature. Planting and caring for this plant was not described there, but it is known that by the middle of the same century it was cultivated in French gardens. John Tradescant Jr. was the first famous gardener to grow geychera, and the year of their introduction into the culture is considered to be 1656.

At the beginning of the 19th century, other representatives of the Heuchera genus were described, including the Heuchera sanguinea, a blood-red Heuchera found in Mexico. The planting and care of which did not differ from the already known species.

At the beginning of the last century, geychera were quite rare in the gardens, and most of them were species of plants and their natural forms. The situation changed after the famous French breeders of that time, father and son Lemoine, began to hybridize this perennial. The first hybrid form, obtained from crossing small-flowered and blood-red, was the quail-shaped heuchera. Planting and care (a photo of a modern plant of this species of the Pluie de Feu variety is presented below) is exactly the same as that of its "ancestors". Subsequently, breeding work was carried out both in France by the Lemoine family and in the UK by A. Blum. The latter received from crossing hairy, small-flowered, American and cylindrical more than a dozen complex hybrid forms.

Views

In modern horticulture, it is not the natural species themselves that are most often found, but various hybrids and varieties of Heucher:

• American (Heuchera Americana) - with long-petiolate leaves of a cordate-rounded shape, bordered along the edge. They differ in various color options.
• Hairy (Heuchera villosa) - stands out in large leaf plates, painted in apricot-bronze, light green and various shades of purple.
• Blood red (Heuchera sanguinea) - also called "red bell", has denser leaves than other species. This is the most unpretentious and stable Heuchera. Planting and caring for it in the garden is minimal, the most important thing is not to plant it in sunny places, as it prefers to grow in partial shade and shade.
• Small-flowered (Heuchera Micrantha) is one of the most spectacular types of Heuchera. On the leaves of plants of this species, there is a silvery color in the form of spots and "blots" of various sizes, there are also varieties with a velvet-cherry, almost purple color.
• Cylindrical (H. Cilindrica) - the largest representative of the genus Heuchera. The species got its name because of the cylindrical shape of dense inflorescences, which are reddish, pink and greenish-yellow in color. The leaves of this species are usually green.

Popular varieties

It is unlikely that anyone will be able to say exactly how many varieties of geyher exist today. Almost every year, breeders delight lovers with new and interesting plants. The approximate number of modern varieties is about 200. It will not work to tell about everything, but we will try to highlight interesting and popular ones.

• Low, only 25 cm, Heuchera variety Amethyst Mist Coral Bells stands out with glossy foliage of deep purple color, covered as if with an ice pattern of thin silvery veins.
• The leaves of the beauty of the Regina variety, whose height is about 30 cm, are painted in lavender with an ash-silver tint. On high - 50-60 cm - pink inflorescences bloom in June.
• Geichera Autumn Leaves (AutomnLeaves) is practically a chameleon variety, as it changes the color of its leaves three times per season. In the spring they are "firemen" - bright red, in the summer - gray-green, and in the fall they are painted in a crimson color. The preferred landing site is partial shade.
• The Beauty Color variety is distinguished by a two-tone color of the leaves, a green border around the edge and bright veins.
• Creamy yellow leaves, decorated with veins of reddish-brown color, will surprise the Heuchera variety Electra. The intensity of the yellow color changes during the season, and blooms with milky white bells. It is better not to plant in the sun.

If desired, all of these varieties, as well as many others, can be grown as indoor plants.

Heuchera: planting and care in the open field

When growing this perennial, it is quite important to choose the right place for its placement. The splendor of the bush and its flowering, the brightness of the color of the leaves, and the life of the plant depend on this. Thinking about where to land the Heuchera, it is better to opt for those areas where the sun is in the morning hours, or where there is a slight partial shade. Despite the fact that this plant is shade-tolerant, it will reveal its beauty of Heuchera only in openwork penumbra. Planting and caring for young plants have their own characteristics: they should be located in places protected from strong winds and with well-drained, light and nutritious soil. This plant is unpretentious, but in areas where water stagnates for a long time, for example, after rain, it will die, since the root system will quickly begin to rot.

How to care for this flower?

We will not repeat how unpretentious the Heuchera plant is. Planting and caring for him is simple: the right place with good soil, timely watering, mulching and hilling. As noted, this perennial does not tolerate stagnant moisture, but it also does not like overdrying the soil. The ground around the plant should be constantly slightly moist, then the leaves will be large and beautiful, and the flowering will delight. In order to prevent excessive evaporation of moisture, especially on hot days, it is advisable to mulch the soil around the heuchera bush with humus, foliage, grass or straw. Planting and care in the fall, as well as mulching the plant, especially after the first frost, will prevent its death from extinction in spring.

Feed or not?

Quite often, you can read in various sources that geychera of any kind and type do not need feeding. This is partly true, but only when you have well-“filled” fertile soils. And in this case, it should be remembered that all stocks come to an end someday. Many flower growers feed Heucheras with complex mineral fertilizers with a small amount of nitrogen twice a season: before and after flowering. When feeding this plant, use only half of the manufacturer's recommended dose, it is no longer worth it.

Diseases and pests

Heuchera, planting and caring for which corresponds to the agricultural technology of this plant, is quite resistant to various diseases and insects that want to feast on it.But unfavorable weather conditions, as well as a lack or excess of water weaken the flower, and the larva of the furrow weevil can begin to "feast on" its roots. The insect itself is black-brown, only about 10 mm in length, decorated with deep grooves on the elytra. They feed at night, nibbling the edges of the leaves, and during the day they hide in the soil. There they lay eggs, from which white larvae hatch with a brown head, gnawing at the roots. Pests also include slugs and snails that love to "chew" young leaves.

Of the diseases affecting Heuchera, the most common are bacterial spots and fungal infections.

How to propagate?

It is quite easy to get seedlings of a plant like Heuchera. Planting and caring for young plants in the open field is simple, but first you need to get seed in one of three ways:

- sowing seeds;

- dividing the bush;

- by rooting the side cuttings.

Let's take a closer look at each of them.

Divide the bush

The easiest way to get some small geyher is to divide a three to four year old plant. For this you need:

1. Dig up the plant carefully.
2. With a clean and sharp knife, divide it into several parts.
3. Cut off dry leaves up to the buds located in the axils of old leaves.
4. Damaged and long roots must be cut off, and the cut should be sprinkled with ash, crushed coal or a root formation stimulator.
5. Before planting, you need to dig a hole 0.3x0.3 m in size.
6. At the bottom, put a little of any complex fertilizer and well-rotted humus.
7. Having straightened the roots, fill the hole with soil and compact it well.
8. Water and protect from sunlight.

Growing from seeds

You can propagate a plant like Heuchera by seed. Planting and leaving is easy. It is important to remember that the germination of the seeds of this plant lasts only six months after collection. Pay attention to the date of packing if you buy them in the store. If they are packed in a foil bag, then their shelf life can increase up to one and a half years. Heuchera seeds are planted on seedlings in March-April, depending on the level of illumination in the house. In the prepared soil, previously laid out in containers with a height of more than five centimeters and spilled with a weak warm solution of potassium permanganate, loosened and leveled, seeds are sown, previously mixed with clean river sand. They should not be deepened; it is enough to press a little into the ground. Then the containers are covered with glass or transparent film, after which they are placed on a warm, well-lit windowsill. Seedlings will appear in 14-21 days, all this time you need to air the plantings daily. When the first three leaves appear, the seedlings dive. In May, seedlings can be taken out into the garden or moved to a greenhouse, and in early June they can be planted in open ground. In autumn, young plants should be covered with straw or spruce branches.

Cuttings

Another way of reproduction of geyher is by cuttings, which allows not to dig up the plant. Near the ground, you need to find shoots with buds, cut them off and transfer them to a greenhouse or seedling bed. The twigs are treated with a rooting stimulator and planted in the ground so that the buds rise above the ground. After about 4–5 weeks, the planted cuttings will take root, and after a couple of months they can be transplanted into open ground.

Heuchera - a genus of rhizomatous herbaceous perennials of the Saxifrage family, cultivated species and varieties of which are extremely in demand today in landscape design. Heuchera got its name in honor of Johann Heinrich von Heicher, a German botanist and physician. Originally from the rocky regions of North America, Heuchera is a compact shrub up to half a meter in height, attracting the eye with its luxurious, exquisite leaves. Geykhera is a gourmet plant, since during one growing season it can change the color of its leaves, and more than once.No other culture is distinguished by such a palette of shades and so many variants of their combinations as Heuchera, and especially its modern variegated varieties.

Heuchera flower - description

The dense heuchera bush is formed by leathery toothed leaves on long cuttings. The shape and color of the leaves is striking in its variety: almost black, bright red, maroon, amber, pink, purple, yellow, green and even silvery leaves in all kinds of patterns and veins, specks and spots. In texture, the leaves are smooth, corrugated and curly. Heuchera blooms all summer, and even until the very frost, with small pink, white, cream or red bells gathered in panicles. The fruit of geychera is a box in which seeds the size of a poppy seed ripen (about 20,000 seeds fit in 1 gram). Heuchera has been used in landscape design for a long time. Designers divide Heuchera varieties into two categories: decorative deciduous, the ancestor of which was American Heuchera, and decorative flowering ones, such as Red Heuchera, or blood red.

Features of growing heuchera

There are no obvious features or difficulties in growing heuchera, but this plant has characteristic features that you will not be in trouble to know. So:

• - for decorative leafy varieties of heuchera, if you do not have a goal to collect seeds in autumn, it is better to remove the peduncle as soon as it appears: they grow much higher than the bush and have an untidy appearance, which damages the decorative qualities of the plant;
• - peduncles of decorative flowering varieties are removed immediately after the heuchera has faded;
• - over time, the lower leaves on the bush fall off, and the geyhera looks untidy. You need to dig up the plant before flowering and transplant it, along with an earthen clod, into a deeper hole to hide the bald stem;
• - at the beginning of growth, young leaves of heuchera are bright and translucent, like flower petals, but as they mature, they thicken and darken;
• - Heuchera goes well with primroses, daylilies, astilba, bergenia and decorative cereals.

Planting Heuchera

When to plant Heuchera.

Heuchera is planted in March or April. Heuchera is distinguished by good shade tolerance, so the best place for it is in the partial shade of other plants, where diffused light will fall on it. The best option is the east or west side, where direct sunlight falls only in the morning or evening. If this is not possible, and you have to plant it in the sun, then you need to provide the Heuchera with regular and more abundant watering. By the way, varieties with brightly colored leaves in an open sunny area become even brighter and more spectacular. And varieties with red leaves must grow in the sun, otherwise their leaves will remain green in the shade.

In the choice of soil, Heuchera is not picky, it can grow on any soil, except acidic, the optimal pH is 5-6. Even a rocky area does not scare the plant, because in nature, in its homeland, it covers the rocky shores of the Great Lakes. But the more fertile and looser the soil, the more attractive and magnificent the Heuchera. Moisture capacity is of great importance and, at the same time, good drainage of the soil on the site. The stagnation of water in the roots of Heuchera does not tolerate.

How to plant Heuchera.

There are two planting methods - seeds and seedlings. Heuchera seeds are simply sown into loose prepared soil and covered up. But we remind you that seed reproduction is not the best way, since it does not preserve the species and varietal characteristics of the mother plant, and at best you will grow a simple Heuchera with green leaves.

The seedling method is more reliable. Seedlings are grown in a greenhouse container, and then planted in open ground to a depth of 3-4 cm at a distance of 20 cm from each other. The soil should be loose so that air can freely penetrate the roots. And heuchera from seeds in the open field, and seedlings germinate in a month and a half.

Geyhera - care

How to care for a Heychera.

Growing Heuchera is not difficult, and caring for Heuchera will not tire you. By and large, she does not need any care. In the first year of the growing season, in the year of planting, the plant does not need feeding, in subsequent years, decorative flowering varieties of Heuchera need to be fed with a universal fertilizer for flowering plants, and decorative deciduous ones - with complex fertilizers for deciduous plants, respectively. The feeding time is before and after flowering, and the dose should be halved compared to that recommended on the package.

Watering Heuchera should be regular, as the soil dries up - once every two days, and it is better to forget to water Heuchera than to do it twice - excess moisture harms it. But on hot, dry days, you will have to water the Heuchera twice a day - early in the morning and in the evening. You need to pour water under the bush, carefully so that the spray does not fall on the leaves, which from this can become covered with burn spots.

If you do not want to have troubles with weeds and loosening the soil after watering, mulch planting Heuchera with peat in the spring.

Reproduction of Heuchera.

When the plant turns 3-4 years old, its rosette may fall apart and you will see a bare middle. This means that the time has come to divide the bush and plant its parts, thereby rejuvenating the Heuchera. The best time for this breeding method is May or early fall. Divide the bush in such a way that each section has 2-3 sockets. Too long roots need to be shortened, and those on which signs of decay are found - cleaned of rot and powder the wounds with coal powder. Parts of the divided bush are planted in pits 30x30 in size a little deeper than the mother plant was planted, at a distance of 25 cm from each other. After planting, it is advisable to water and mulch the site. Parts of the bush take root within a month. This method of reproduction of heuchera is called dividing the bush.

Heuchera propagates in another vegetative way - by cuttings. Cuttings of Heuchera are carried out in June or July: cuttings are cut from the mother bush as close as possible to the soil surface, but without fragments of rhizomes, divided into pieces of 4-6 cm, the lower sections are powdered with a root former, partially freed from the leaves and rooted in a mixture of peat and sand in homemade greenhouses in partial shade. Remember to ventilate the cuttings and moisten the soil in the containers. Rooting takes place in 3-4 weeks.

Heuchera pests and diseases.

Heuchera get sick very rarely, and they are not afraid of pests, but sometimes they still suffer from powdery mildew, rust, gray rot and spotting. The cause of these ailments is an excess of fertilizer or stagnation of water in the roots of plants. From powdery mildew, which covers the leaves with a whitish bloom, heuchera will be relieved by treatment with a fungicide. And spotting and rust can be defeated by spraying Heuchera twice a month with a solution of Bordeaux liquid.

Of the pests, snails, slugs, weevils, caterpillars and leaf nematodes, which can be eliminated with special insecticides, are dangerous for heuchera.

Heuchera after flowering

Heuchera bloom usually begins in early summer and lasts two months, and sometimes even longer. When the geyher in the garden fade, they will not require special care from you. Cut off stalks with wilted flowers if you have no intention of waiting for the heuchera seeds to ripen.

Preparing geyhera for winter

Geichera hibernates in the garden. In no case, do not cut off withered and yellowed leaves of Heuchera in the fall: they help the plant to keep the roots warm in winter. Heuchera requires shelter for the winter, and it is better if you use oak leaves for this. When spring comes, remove the cover and carefully prune last year's heuchera leaves with pruning shears as close to the soil surface as possible.

Types and varieties of heuchera

The genus Heuchera has about 70 species. Many of them grow naturally in the forests and woodlands of the highlands of Mexico and the United States. Conventionally, the types of geychera are divided into mountain and forest ones.We will introduce you to the most popular species and varieties among gardeners, which are used in landscape design and for breeding new varieties.

Heichera blood red

refers to mountain species. She has green leaves and bright red flowers. Americans call it a red bell. The leaves of blood-red heuchera, forming a rosette, are much denser than other species, they are round and jagged. Some varieties of this species are distinguished by beautiful white or creamy specks on the leaves. Peduncles reach a height of 50cm. This type is cold-resistant, which is why it is so popular with our gardeners. The most famous varieties are "Monet", "Variegata", "Hercules".

Heuchera hairy

It is distinguished by large leaves with a velvety surface and pubescent peduncles and cuttings, which is why it got its name. The "Bronze Wave" variety has the largest leaves up to 20 cm in diameter, bronze in color, and "Rachel" has not only flowers, but also peduncles of a pale pink color.

Heuchera cylindrical

- also a mountain view, it has not only spectacular leaves, but also tall peduncles with a cloud of small flowers that seem to soar above the bush during flowering. This species is larger than others, and this attracted breeders who, on the basis of cylindrical heuchera, developed new varieties. Peduncles reach 90 cm in height, they bloom large flowers of white, pink, green and coral color on short pedicels. Leaves are heart-shaped, rounded, green with a silvery pattern or contrasting veins. Varieties: "Greenfinch" with greenish-cream flowers, "Hyperion" - a compact bush with a peduncle height of only 50 cm and red-pink flowers.

Heuchera small-flowered

- according to many gardeners, this is the most spectacular of the geyher. Its leaf, resembling a maple leaf, is covered with silvery spots, and some of the naturally occurring specimens are distinguished by a purple tint of the leaves. The paniculate inflorescence on a peduncle 60cm high consists of small creamy pink flowers with orange anthers. Of the popular varieties, the best known are the Palace Purple with dark purple leaves, which is the best perennial plant in 1999, and the Bressingham Bronze with bronze-brown leaves.

American Geichera,

growing on the shores of the Great Lakes. In the USA it is called "mountain geranium". It attracts with its leaves, forming a rosette about 20 cm high. On the underside, the leaves are brown-lilac, heart-shaped, rounded, petioles are long. Panicles on peduncles 50-60 cm tall consist of yellow-green flowers. Green Spice is one of the most beautiful varieties of American heuchera with green leaves and contrasting silvery spots on them. During the growing season, the leaves change shades of green from more yellow to darker, the silver spots increase, and a purple hue appears around the veins.

Heuchera hybrid

- it includes interspecific hybrids of American and blood-red heuchera with the participation of small-flowered heuchera. The flowers of this species resemble those of the blood-red heuchera, but they are somewhat larger, as well as the leaves with peduncles. Flowers of white, coral, red or pink color bloom for more than two months. The color of the leaves is mostly green, but with contrasting veins and cream-colored specks. The only drawback of these hybrids is that the stalks can fall from strong wind and rain. Sorts: "Cancan", "Cappuccino", "Beauty Color", "Ruby Vale" and others.

Gooseberry Heuchera

- this plant is so cold-resistant that even after wintering in the garden in severe frost it can completely retain its leaves, and it is this rare quality that attracts both flower growers and breeders in it.

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