Content
The landscape design of a site depends on many factors. Summer residents have to take into account climatic features, soil composition, time and financial possibilities. The main goal remains the beauty of the site throughout the year. Therefore, plant selection is an important part of planning. One of the popular types of ornamental perennials, which is often used for landscape design, is heuchera.
The main advantage of heuchera is the variety of shades of jagged leaves and the ability to remain decorative from early spring to late autumn. There are more than 70 varieties that fit perfectly into a variety of landscaping projects. You can create an original zone using only combinations of shades of heuchera leaves. All varieties of plants are divided into mountain and forest.
It would be more correct to say that heuchera in landscape design can create a unique composition and save time.
Heuchera is valued by designers for its ability to:
- create a bright accent against the background of garden greenery;
- provide decorative appeal throughout the season;
- takes root well in containers;
- adapt to any degree of illumination;
- tolerate cold and climatic fluctuations well;
- reproduce easily and quickly;
- resist diseases;
- do not require careful and professional care;
- get along with other plants in any combination;
- grow near ponds and on stone compositions.
In addition, a huge selection of varieties and an excellent view on any plan allows the use of heucheras in landscape design in the foreground, in rock gardens, rock gardens and multi-tiered flower beds.
Ideas using heuchera in landscape design
Heuchera is a low flower.
But the leaves create such an attractive appearance that a flower will come in handy anywhere. Leaf shades range from green to white. In between you can find brown, gray, purple, red, silver, cream.
The coloring is not always monochromatic; there are representatives with stripes, specks, and spots. The saturation of the color depends on the warming and lighting of the plant.
Heuchera flowers are also popular in landscape design. They are smaller and more numerous, similar to bells with different colors. The plant blooms in the summer, at the very beginning, and continues to bloom until the end of the season. As soon as the “bells” fade, the stems are cut off. The bush is very compact, neat with leaves of various textures and shapes.There are varieties with smooth, corrugated, and curly leaves.
Original ideas on how to use flowers in projects can be found in various sources. Heuchera in landscape design is capable of creating such a colorful composition that photos of ideas amaze with their diversity.
It will perfectly fill an empty space or make a harmonious, calm transition from one plant to another with the help of unique leaves.
A separately planted heuchera will act as an accent in landscape design or, conversely, will mask the emptiness in the flowerbed throughout the flowering period.
By choosing varieties according to color scheme, you can perfectly decorate the problem area.
The most important thing is that the beauty of heuchera does not depend on the weather. In the cold and in the heat, it equally gives a fabulous look with its lush and dense bushes.
Heuchera is ideally combined in landscape design with other plants and elements of rock gardens, rockeries, and stone buildings.
Planted in decorative flowerpots and containers, it will perfectly decorate a terrace, gazebo or patio.
In landscape design, thanks to the strict shape and neatness of the bushes, it is also used to create borders. In tree trunk areas, in group plantings and as a tapeworm, heuchera definitely wins.
In the landscape design of a site, heuchera, as a colorful addition, can be combined with almost any type of plant.
She will get along next to atsilba and brunera, chrysanthemums and ornamental grasses, daylilies and hostas, irises, geraniums, primroses, sediums or ferns. In these combinations, it can play the role of balance with a large, rich color palette of the flower bed. In another case, with its unique duet of shape and color, it will help to slightly dilute the concentration of bright colors.
Popular representatives of heuchera
In landscape design, the ability of a plant to change the shade of its leaves during the flowering period is highly valued. At first they are lighter, but at the end they become much darker. That's why it's always beautiful in the garden. Often, gardeners use heuchera leaves to decorate their home environment. They are combined with various autumn colored leaves and placed in a vase. What types are most often used in landscape design?
Blood red
It belongs to the mountain varieties, is very hardy and unpretentious. It is the ancestor of many modern varieties. The second name is coral bell. A bush with very dense leaves, circular and serrated. In landscape design, a species with cream or white spots on the leaves is often used. Blood red heuchera flowers are small pink or red bells.
They have medicinal properties.
American
Forest view. It also has a second name - mountain geranium. Loves shade and nutritious soil. American Heuchera flowers have a beautiful yellow-green color. In landscape design, it is valued for its original heart-shaped leaves with a brownish-purple color on the lower part.
Hairy
Belongs to forest species. The peculiarity of this variety is its large velvety leaves and fluffy peduncles. The flowers are very delicate shades - pink, creamy green.
Cylindrical
This variety of mountain heuchera is much larger than the others. The green, heart-shaped leaves display a silvery pattern. It got its name because of the shape of the inflorescence. The flowers are also large and collected in a cylinder-like shape.
There are many varieties of this variety of heuchera, each with a unique shade of flowers.
Small-flowered
Favorite type of landscape designers.They consider it the most spectacular of the heucheras. The leaves resemble maple in shape, and the colors are very unusual. For example, bronze or purple, some have silver flecks. The flowers are small, expressive creamy pink with orange anthers.
Hybrid
The name itself suggests that this variety of heuchera belongs to the mixed type. In landscape design, the entire palette of possible shades and shapes of leaves, which hybrid heuchera is rich in, is used. The flowers also have different colors, so the popularity of the plant is very high.
Gooseberry leaf
This heuchera is distinguished by its small leaf size. They can be five-bladed or three-bladed, but are always assembled into a rosette. The stems are long, 60 cm high, ending in large white flowers.
The listed varieties are divided into many varieties, which are successfully used in landscape design. Let's look separately at the most common ones:
Caramel
It lives up to its name with the honey-yellow color of its leaves. And light pink flowers complement the sweet picture.
Marmalade
The leaves are light purple on the underside and yellow-orange on top. A very beautiful variety with small greenish flowers.
Black bird
Juicy dark burgundy leaves will give a good shade in the landscape design of the garden. Sometimes the color reaches a black shade and resembles the wings of a raven.
Purple Castle
This variety is suitable for lovers of more strict forms. Ivy-shaped leaves with a dark purple color combine very effectively with cream bells.
Cherry Cola
Here is a combination of red-brown tones of leaves and pink flowers. This variety can decorate any flower arrangement.
It is important not only to choose the appropriate variety, but also to ensure proper care of the plants. Only in this case will heucheras be a unique addition to the landscape design of the site.
How to grow heuchera without problems
The main criterion for the healthy appearance of heuchera in landscape design projects is the correct location for planting. The plant loves partial shade and protection from the wind. However, some varieties prefer good light. Before creating a composition, you should familiarize yourself with the requirements of certain types. Most flower representatives are unpretentious to weather conditions and soil type, but it is better to plant heuchera on well-drained, nutritious soil. This is due to the fact that if water stagnates, the roots may rot and the plant will die.
The winter hardiness of a plant depends on the health of the roots. To ensure uniform growth of the root system, it is necessary to hill up the heucheras once a year. And after 5 years the bushes are replanted.
It is dug up, divided into parts and planted. This procedure must be done in the spring before the plant has time to produce new shoots and leaves. Mulching with oak leaves helps heucheras to overwinter well. Leaves cannot be cut off in winter, otherwise the plant will not survive.
Heucheras are propagated by dividing bushes, seeds and cuttings.For inexperienced gardeners, it is better to purchase a ready-made plant to avoid difficulties with sowing. In addition, when grown from seeds, heucheras do not always fully possess the characteristics of the variety.
The main pests that can cause trouble are slugs and snails. If prevention is carried out in time, problems will not arise.
The main reasons for the weakening of heuchera are considered to be excess organic nutrients, moisture or increased soil acidity. But for summer residents these are simple questions. Therefore, heucheras are found everywhere in landscape design. With age, the plant retains its original shape, so in landscape design it is used to create strict geometric shapes.
Don't be afraid to make a mistake in choosing a place. She will undergo the transplant painlessly, and you will be able to find the best option. Heuchera in landscape design is combined with almost any plant and fits harmoniously into any style.
