Georgia Peach Heuchera, or ‘Coral Bells’ perform well in Southern humidity. / Loretta Gillespie
This charming little plant will soon become part of a heuchera collection, if you are anything like me. I started off with Plum Pudding and then had to have every new color the breeders developed.
Georgia Peach is by far my favorite. It, like others of the species, performs well in our Southern heat and humidity. It is ideal in rock gardens or mixed containers in bright to dappled shade. More sun-tolerant in cool, northern gardens, heucheras are evergreen in our temperate area.
It does need some light, eastern light is ideal, although it grows well in partial to full sun. I love putting it in a raised container, or a hanging basket, so that I can see the sun coming through the leaves, reminding me stained-glass panels.
It needs regular watering – weekly, or more often in extreme heat.
It has a clumping habit, with mounds of up to 14 inches tall, 24 inches wide, and sports tiny flower stems 30 inches tall.
It can be used in borders, containers mixed with contrasting colors, as shown here with yellow Creeping Jenny, and in naturalized woodland gardens, but I find that in my hard clay soil, it tends to stay small. Voles, moles and chipmunks are also a problem. However, if you grow your coral bells in a pot that has some insulation, it will perform admirably for you, year after year.
*Important! Be extremely careful not to cover plant higher than in the original pot. This is death to a heuchera, so plant a little high. It doesn’t have a graft like a rose, just several stems, so be very cautious about planting too deep or about mounding mulch up to high around the base of the plant.
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