How to grow heuchera and best varieties

Heucheras, and their close relatives heucherellas and tiarellas, are most often grown for their foliage. They do best in full or partial shade, as their leaves can get scorched in sun. However, there are several varieties that are suited to growing in a sunny spot and have good flowers. 

Which? Gardening has tested heucheras for both sun and shade, alongside tiarellas and heucherellas, to find the ones that have attractive foliage in every season, as well as great flowers. 

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Key facts

Plant type Hardy perennial

Position Full sun or shade, depending on variety

Soil Moist but well-drained soil

How to grow heucheras: month by month

Best heuchera varieties

Full testing results for heucheras for sun or partial shade

OVERALL RATING The more stars the better. Ignores price and is based on: foliage impact 40%; winter foliage 15%; flowering duration 10%; peak flowering duration 10%; flowering impact 10%; insect attraction 5%; shape of plant 5%; pest and disease resistance 5%. 

Full testing results for heucheras for shade

OVERALL RATING The more stars the better. Ignores price and is based on: flower duration 15%; flower impact 15%; foliage impact 15%; shape of plant 15%; insect attraction 10%; heath 10%; flower coverage 10%; vigour and survival 10%.

Full testing results for heucherellas for shade

OVERALL RATING The more stars the better. Ignores price and is based on: flower duration 15%; flower impact 15%; foliage impact 15%; shape of plant 15%; insect attraction 10%; heath 10%; flower coverage 10%; vigour and survival 10%.

Full testing results for tiarellas for shade

OVERALL RATING The more stars the better. Ignores price and is based on: flower duration 15%; flower impact 15%; foliage impact 15%; shape of plant 15%; insect attraction 10%; heath 10%; flower coverage 10%; vigour and survival 10%

How to grow heucheras

Planting

Many heucheras prefer a shady spot, but the ones we grew in the trial tolerate full sun.

Soil needs to be moist but well drained. Heucheras dislike sitting in wet soil, so grow in pots if your soil is waterlogged over winter.

Dig in plenty of garden compost or well-rotted manure before planting, to improve the soil and encourage root growth.

Plant with the soil at the same level as in the pot. Heucheras can rot if planted too deeply.

Caring for your heucheras

Water well after planting until they’re established. After this, only water in long, dry spells. Plants grown in pots need regular watering through spring and summer, but move the pot to a sheltered position to avoid waterlogging through the winter.

Mulch around plants to deter weeds and keep soil moist. 

There’s no need to feed plants in borders, but in spring add a controlled-release feed to heucheras grown in containers.

Trim off old leaves in spring and deadhead once flowering stops.

Propagating heucheras

When plants become woody, trim off the top growth and root cuttings in pots of compost.

Alternatively, dig up the whole plant, cut away sections from around the edges of the plant that have both leaves and roots, and pot them up to grow on before planting out in the garden. Make sure the pots remain damp, especially in hot weather. Discard the woody centre of the old plant.

Common problems with heucheras

Vine weevils love heuchera roots and feed on plants grown in pots. If your plant seems to wilt quickly and collapse, take it out of the pot, wash the roots and remove any larvae. Then repot with fresh compost and treat with nematodes.

Heuchera rust appears as pustules on the underside of the leaves. Remove all the foliage to just above the crown and treat the new leaves with a fungicide.

The difference between heucheras, heucherellas and tiarellas

Heuchera have evergreen leaves in a range of colours and patterns. The flowers, on long wiry stems, might be small and white or large and brightly coloured. They like sun or part shade and well-drained soil.

Tiarella have deciduous, lobed leaves that are green with purple markings. They have short stems of starry flowers in spring and early summer. These woodland plants prefer moist, humus-rich soil and being situated in a shady spot. 

Heucherella are a cross between tiarella and heuchera, with the colourful, patterned evergreen leaves of heuchera, and often the short stems of frothy flowers of tiarella. They’re more flexible about sun, shade and soil moisture, too. 

How we test heucheras

We chose varieties of heuchera that could be grown in sun and were said to have good flowers, as well as heucheras, heucherellas and tiarellas that grow in shade. We selected a variety of foliage and flower colours, and included a mix of past Best Buys and some that hold an Award of Garden Merit (AGM), as well as some new breeding. 

We planted them in late spring at our Capel Manor Gardens trial grounds in north London and at trial sites in the north. 

We assessed them for flowering weekly from May until September each year and three times each year for foliage, health and resistance to pests and diseases. One of these assessments was in the winter to see whether the foliage continued to look good year-round