'Crimson Curls'
Coral Bells
"Come out to view
the truth of flowers blooming
in poverty."
-Matsuo Basho,
1644-1694
1644-1694
'Crimson Curls' is a recent Heuchera hybrid developed by Ray Brown of Plant World Botanic Gardens in Devon, England, & released in the United States by Plant Haven of Santa Barbara, California.
The colorful leaves are not actually crimson, but in spring emerge a deep dark maroon to beet red, fading to grey-green for summer. The leaves have very strikingly curled edges. In early summer, the off-white bell-shaped flowers are pleasant but not dramatic, rising on wiry stems five or eight inches higher than the ten-inch tall extremely compact clump of leaves. Deadheading spent panicles encourages rebloom into Autumn.
Hardy down to Zone 3, it is not especially heat-hardy, & needs partial shade in Zone 8. In the coldest zones it will require mulching & will die back in winter, but here on Puget Sound where winters are fairly mild, it is an evergreen, though needing its remaining leaves cut back at winter's end so that spring's fresh maroon leaves will be seen to best advantage.
It will be damaged if the ground dries out. It wants evenly moist, fertile soil in dappled or afternoon sunlight. The further north it is grown, the more sun it may require. Though growth is slow, the clump may get overlarge in time & require division every two to four years.
Ours is at the base of a Hornbeam Tree, & overshadowed by the Loder's White Rhododendron.