Also known as alumroot or coral bells, heucheras are a family of plants known for their colourful ruffled leaves and unusual tall flowers. They come in all sorts of different shades. This one, heuchera boysenberry, has leaves in a beautiful, autumnal shade of red.

A compact evergreen, the heuchera is an easy way to add colour to your garden all year round. In spring, and hopefully through to early autumn, those striking leaves are joined by tiny white-pink flowers on long stems. It grows no more than about 40cm wide, so it’s a lovely plant for a pot or for filling space in a flower bed. 

There’s not much care required with heucheras. They like a lot of light, ideally full sun; they like moist soil, so check them very regularly in summer; and they’ll benefit from feeding in spring and summer. It’s also a good idea to chop back dead growth in early spring, to make way for lots of fresh new leaves.

Did you know?

Some Native American peoples use heuchera to create various medicines.