Never trust picture tags. Never trust magazine pictures. Never trust the plant blurb from nurseries unless it is one of those ones that is a bit more realistic in their descriptions.

If they are trying to tell you it slices, dices, takes out the trash, and cuddles you on a cold night than the nursery is one that isn't interested in plants, only selling product. I look for the ones that don't gush and enthuse, but are willing to tell me even the possible negatives of a plant too.

Sorry, had to get that little rant out of my system, LOL.

If I question what a plant looks like I try and google the image of it to see if a REAL person has taken an un-doctored photo of it.

I found a blog below with a picture of 'Autumn Leaves' that gives a much better idea of what it will look like in an actual garden...in real life. ;-D
CMK

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Autumn Leaves' at Gatsby's Gardens

I have that issue too. I look at the huecheras and huercherellas online and am blown away! I forget which one it was now but, I saw one in person at a local nursery and barely recognized it. I feel the same way about some of these electric blue sea hollies. I guess lesson here is only buy crazy colors from local nurseries so you can see them in person first? Ugh

Thanks for the responses. I'm on dial up at home, so i can't see the pictures at the link. Will have to go to the library for that.

Re the electric blue sea hollies--Big Blue (Eryngium x zabellii 'Big Blue') is absolutely spectacular.

Not much in the way of local nurseries here. I mail order pretty much everthing.

I have noticed that often a plant is pictured at its most extreme, color-wise. It may REALLY be that color, but only for a couple weeks in spring when the foliage is new or during fall color season, like the photos of burning bushes in full red when in reality they are really boring 50 weeks of the year. I have had that experience with Heuchera. There are also nurseries that doctor their photos, but with Heuchera the photos may give an incomplete impression of the plant's true appearance rather than an inaccurate one.

This post was edited by nhbabs on Sat, Aug 31, 13 at 12:03

Lacey, you might try Googling a particular heuchera by name, then click on "images" -- this would give an expanded view of the color variations beyond the catalog/online photo from the seller. I just did that to see if it works, and saw a fair bit of variation, enough perhaps to make a decision whether you purchase or not! Give it a try... and good luck.

I've been using google image search for all kinds of things lately. It yields interesting results when you enter specific paint colors too. It's a definite for thinking about a new plant, as it shows it in lots of different contexts.