Last week we looked at coral bells and covered some of the dark leaved options that are grown in this garden and easy to find on the market. This week we are going to look at some spectacular options for sunny sites.
Coral bells were traditionally thought of as shade lovers. Heuchera villosa, however, is a species that is native to southeastern U.S. It is an adaptable species that thrives in full sun to part shade, grows happily in soils ranging from slightly wet to slightly dry and is unfazed by high humidity. Understandably, it is a popular plant for southern gardens.
Hybridizers have latched on to this species and it is now part of the parentage of many successful hybrids. The French hybridizer, Thierry Delabroye has taken the world of coral bells by storm by flooding the market with a number of mouthwatering cultivars that are designed to make you either hungry or thirsty. Delabroye’s offerings include cultivars such as ‘Carmel’, ‘Brownies’, ‘Mocha’, ‘Pistache’, ‘Tiramisu’, ‘Pinot Gris’, and ‘Beaujolais’. We have used a number of these cultivars in container displays. This year we are growing ‘Brownies’ in the Trial Bed Garden in the Home Gardening Center.
The reputation of Heuchera ‘Brownies’ as an attractive and adaptable coral bell is attested to by the fact that it is flourishing in the challenging environment of New York’s High Line park. Its foliage emerges brown and then transforms into a greenish brown with a rich purple-red underside. Like the majority of Heuchera villosa hybrids it features large foliage and has a fuzzy texture. It grows over a foot tall and forms a generous two foot clump.
Briefings from the Field, a short lecture series featuring updates from the fieldwork of various Garden scientists, is open to the public Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Arthur and Janet Ross Lecture Hall
This Adnia rubella flower (commonly known as Chinese buttonbush) looks like it would make a very fine stand-in as a magic wand for your favorite fairy princess.
We have a really great video for you today about the ongoing efforts to keep the Bronx River clean and healthy.
The Bronx River–which runs through a dramatic gorge in the Garden–is New York City’s only freshwater river (the Hudson is a tidal estuary as far north as Troy, and the East River is a tidal strait). The river’s transformation from a dangerously polluted waterway in the mid-20th century to the healthy, clean home of New York City’s first beaver in 300 years is an ecological success story, with new chapters written daily.
So sit back and enjoy this trip down the Bronx River in a flotilla of canoes manned by volunteers from the Bronx River Alliance and a team of Garden horticulture interns.
