Breeder News

Copper-leafed hechera varieties are perfect pansy partners and look stunning with Lemon Coral sedum. This winter we are seeing copper in baskets, containers and even landscapes all thanks to new heuchera varieties. There seems to be nothing that today’s flower breeder can’t do with heuchera or its common name coral bells. The obvious is a fancy foliage pal with blue pansies for a complementary color scheme gone wild. In actuality, pansies and heuchera of all colors look like they were meant-to-be married together. Copper-colored heucheras like Southern Comfort and the new Primo Peachberry Ice will excel with the dark-colored Redbor kale and Swiss chard. To be bold, try combining with Lemon Coral sedum or Goldilocks lysimachia both offering a wonderful partnership of lime. Holy Smokes and Shazam, I can’t take my eyes off them. The silver comes from what you may have already guessed, the much underappreciated, Dusty Miller. They seem to bring out the best in each other. Kind of like my bride Jan and myself who will always be polar opposites. As I mentioned above all heuchera species are native to the United States, including the heuchera villosa native in the Southeast from Arkansas to Georgia and north to New York as well as heuchera americana being the other, that are used in breeding many of the new cultivars. These two species alone have led to over 80 varieties. There are so many new hybrids coming from breeders all over the world they are revolutionizing our native plant.

Source: www.greensboro.com