Product Description

Few perennials have undergone as dramatic a "makeover" as heucheras (coral bells) and their hybrids with tiarellas (foamflowers), the heucherellas (foamy bells). Drawn mainly from diminutive forest-dwelling species with small white flowers and unremarkable foliage, these woodlanders and crevice dwellers are now among the most popular plants in nurseries around the world. Dan Heims and Grahame Ware not only provide background on the wild species of Heuchera, they also tell how these plants were developed into the garden stars they are today, with an appreciative nod to the breeders who revolutionized the plants' characteristics. The book's main feature is extensive listings of the choice selections and hybrids available commercially; practical chapters on garden care, propagation, and design uses round out this fascinating account. Gardeners looking for the drab and colorless need not trouble themselves with this book---the first ever on these striking plants.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #888636 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

From Booklist
Heims and Ware offer horticultural data on coral bells and foamy bells and their hybrids as well as information about their history and ethnobotany, but their detailed and lavish book is chiefly devoted to a listing of hundreds of these lovely perennials. Each listing describes the flower's color, size, and the month it blooms. There are chapters on culture and care (growing them in gardens and containers, fertilizers, deadheading and maintenance, pest and diseases); propagation; and garden uses and combinations with other flowers. Heims received the Royal Horticultural Society's Reginald Cory Memorial Cup in 2002. Ware is a freelance writer and broadcaster. The book, with 155 color and 37 black and white photographs, and 154 line drawings, is an exceptional guide to these popular flowers. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Whatever your soil type and sun exposure, with the help of this book, you'll be able to find the perfect heuchera or heucherella. -- Jean Starr Munster (IN) Times 20050505 [Heims and Ware] recount the wild life of Heuchera, tracing how the 36 species, 37 subspecies, and two natural hybrids... were developed into the garden luminaries they are today, with a salute to the breeders who revolutionized the plants' characteristics. -- Ilene Sternberg Wilmington News Journal 20050519 They suggest ways to combine them with yellow, silver, and bronze companions, use them in floral arrangements, woodland or dry gardens, and in the winter garden. -- Ilene Sternberg Wilmington News Journal 20050519 This book provides detailed background on the history of this striking plant. This fascinating account also provides an extensive listing of hundreds of choice selections and hybrids available commercially, as well as practical chapters on garden care, propagation, and design uses. Perennial Plant Association Newsletter 20050620 This book will increase the popularity of these plants that deserve to be grown and enjoyed. The photographs are superb, and every aspect of the plants' culture is covered. -- John E. Bryan Gardening Newsletter 20050729 This detailed and lavish book is an exceptional guide to these popular flowers. -- George Cohen Booklist 20050315 I thought I had every heuchera known to mankind, but this book has 116 pictures of assorted heucheras. -- Dulcy Mahar Oregonian 20050707 A gem of a book and one that will be treasured by serious plantspeople. -- Patricia A. Taylor Trenton Times 20050925 Written in a breezy style, this book informs and delights. Biology Digest 20060101 Delivers in revving up the engines of an avid gardener and delivers substance, too. -- Chuck Robinson Kansas City Gardener 20060801

About the Author
Dan Heims is president of Terra Nova Nurseries, a wholesale nursery specializing in choice perennials; he founded his nursery after a career as a horticultural educator, plant breeder, and owner of a design and build landscape business. His articles, photographs, and plant discussions have been featured in print, television, and radio throughout the world. Heims was the recipient of the Royal Horticultural Society's Reginald Cory Memorial Cup in 2002, which recognized his achievement in Heuchera breeding. Terra Nova's heucheras won nine Awards of Garden Merit from the RHS in 2003. Dan Heims lives and gardens in Portland, Oregon.

Grahame Ware is a freelance writer and broadcaster for Canadian radio, television, and print media. A lifelong gardener, he is a trained horticulturalist and has used heucheras extensively for over a decade. He lives in a log and straw bale home that he designed and built with his partner, Jan, outside of Vernon, British Columbia.

Customer Reviews

Gorgeous photos and interesting, useful text
I am a professional landscape designer, and I have become a huge fan of Heucheras and Heucherellas. Their incredible variety of foliage colors makes them a wonderful plant to use in many situations. They are simple to maintain, easy to grow, and come in foliage colors from bright golden chartreuse with magenta midribs, lush greens with gorgeous natural-looking pink flowers, to deep velvety purples and rich chocolate ruffles.

This is a truly wonderful resource for fans of these plants. The first part of the book has over 50 pages filled with multiple color photos on each page, of every kind of Heuchera or Heucherella you might want to know about. This is great for getting a glimpse of some of the newer varieties that haven't reached our local nurseries yet, and for comparing the subtle and not so subtle variations in their foliage, flower, and habit. I haven't found any Heucheras that are available to me that are not covered in this book, and he covers a lot that I haven't seen yet.

The text which comes after the truly awe-inspiring array of photos in the beginning is helpful and interesting. He gives a lot of background information that the average home gardener might skip over (history, propagation, how they are named and botanically classed), but that I personally found fascinating.

He also gets right to the meat of the matter in his discussions of pest problems and how to solve them, how to combine some of the outrageous foliage colors found in Heucheras and Heucherellas with other garden plants, and how to design with them and use them successfully in the garden.

There is also a reference portion where he discusses each plant and variety, its parentage and what that tells us about what they like in the garden, and describes many varieties in great and useful detail.

I have been waiting for a book on Heucheras for a really long time, and I am so glad that this one was so well worth the wait.

Great Mugshot/Technical Book
This book is an ideal reference for gardening professionals or those home gardeners who have fallen in love with the broad range of heucheras and heucherellas that have become available. It would be an ideal addition to a community library as well. The many pages of color photos of the different cultivars are like having a catalog for plant shopping. The cultivation instructions are good and the enthusiasm of the author for his subject shines through.

The Authors were first
This is a good book, particularly because when it came out, it was the first, and these authors are committed to advancing heucheras in the garden. I am biased, as I crave anything on the subject. I would have given it a higher star, but will wait until I have read the other book on the subject. It has nice photos of heuchera at their very best, and good descriptions of the varieties, and great tips on propagation--which I have used successfully! Buy the book and propagate your heuchs in the spring. I hope this is helpful, but if you like heucheras, you'll buy the book irrespective of what I've shared.