Hi mxk3,

I am wondering the same thing... sort of. I really would like coral bells (almost bought a few of my first ones the other day). This is only my second year gardening so when I was doing some digging on heuchera I found a lot of people in Michigan saying they were giving up on them. This information... totally disappoints me. If Heucherella is more substantial here I'd like to know, too. It'd be nice to have something coral bell-esque at the very least.

They seem to be very much like the newer Heuchera in the fact that some cultivars are winners and others duds. I bought X Heucherella 'Kimono' and 'Alabama Sunrise' three, possibly four, years ago and only Kimono is still going strong.

I picked up 'Sweet Tea' a couple years ago and I'm pretty sure I saw it coming back (wasn't very observant that day, lol).

Years ago I tried another gold cultivar (could have been Stoplight...or another that started with "S", LOL) and it never bulked up and after awhile just disappeared.

Ps. you might consider trying Tellima grandiflora if you don't have luck with either Heuchera or X Heucherella. It's related to coral-bells but is MUCH easier and tolerates difficult shady areas well. There is a cool cultivar called 'Forest Frost' that has silvery/green veined foliage...
CMK

I'm not sure that you should give up on heuchera - what cultivars have you tried? My experience with them has been variable - some of them seem to be tough and reliable while others aren't . I don't have any experiece with the peach colored ones because the colors don't suit my garden. I've had mixed results with the green ones. The bright green ones seem to be gourmet rabbit food! 'Green Spice, on the other hand, has been wonderful for years. 'Palace Purple' keeps getting better every year. It works great with the dark centers of painted ferns and looks good with blue hostas. 'Obsidian' petered out in two years but 'Midnight Rose', 'Silver Scrolls', and 'Chocolate Ruffles' (and another purple one I can't remember what its name is....) are strong growers for me.

Palace purple is what you see along the edge of the patio tosta bed here:
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A closer view of some with ferns on the edge of the ramp you see in the picture above:
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I've planted a few heucherellas I know - but I couldn't tell you how they've done! They just have not shown themselves to be outstanding or memorable for me.

I think you should consider working on what's wrong with the soil. Heuchera are very easy to grow. They probably need a little extra sun in your zone too. If Heuchera don't grow for you, I don't believe Heucherella will either.

I have beautiful pink coral bells in my flower beds and I've had them for about 10 years. They have been divided many times. I got them as divisions from a friends established garden. I liked them so much I bought a White one and a red one. The white one petered out the first winter and the red one the next.

Undeterred I planted seed the next spring. I ended up with about 12 plants. I planted some and gave some away. I lost all but 2 that winter and those 2 struggled for a couple of years and I babied them. Then suddenly they took off and are still alive today. They got bigger and have been divided.

It seems to me that if you can get them through the first 2 years until they are really established they do fine. It's that first couple of years that does them in.

The weather up there has to be hard on them. Here they stay nice through winter. It has to be weather/water, cold, or soil related. I have heard others talking about varieties that do best in the north. I bet if you emailed Terra Nova Nurseries they could recommend good ones for your zone. I hope you don't give up on them though. :)

I don't think anything is "wrong" with my soil - there are plenty of plants that grow beautifully in my garden! For whatever reason, I just don't do well with heuchera (shrug).

In my garden, I found that the older varieties are more vigorous. The Green Spice and Palace Purple get huge. The purple varieties like Purple Petticoats do well in the shade. Here some of the lighter varieties eg. Georgia Peach and Caramel do well in the sun. So far most of the newer varieties are just coming up and are still small.

Heucherella 'Sweet Tea' and Heuchera 'Southern Comfort' are very tough around here. I really think they could tolerate almost any conditions. I rooted a piece off of 'Sweet Tea' last summer. That plant really is a good one.

I was wondering the same about heucherella. My heuchera heave in the winter--even young plants and start off in the spring looking quite mangled. I try to reposition as best as possible.. Palace Purple does better than the caramel colored ones I have tried. I have some heuchera with fairly non descript leaves but long lasting red flowers that also grow better than the varieties with highly colored foliage. Tiarella, on the other hand, starts off looking great in early spring and goes on to provide a long spring display of the foamy white flowers which tend to look good with red tulips (tulips were eaten by deer this year though do I need to rethink that. I was wondering if the heucherella combined the clumping growth habit if Tiarella with the foliage coloration of heuchera.

Not sure if our conditions are similar or not--Great Lakes proximity, rather sandy soil. Many heucheras do okay for me (lean soil keeps them from getting lush), but I can't seem to keep heucherella alive for anything.