Buying Or Harvesting Heuchera Seeds, Which Is The Best Option?
 (Read 500+ times)
By Patricia Wainwright
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Heuchera Varieties
Heuchera is an herbaceous perennial plant in the family saxifragaceae, native to North America, more commonly known as alumroot and coral bells. Fans of heuchera tend to fall into one of two camps, those that love the foliage varieties and those that are keen on the flowering species, the coral bells. A lot of the exotic foliage varieties have been specially bred in horticultural laboratories, so seeds are not easily available, unless you decide to take an adventure into the unknown and harvest the seeds from commercially bought plants and, as a result, see what turns up. Certainly this is a tough perennial, many species grow wild, and it has an amazing diversity of shapes, sizes, flowers, foliage and colors. There are societies of heuchera fans and one can see how gardeners become fascinated by just this one species, and develop a passion for finding or breeding new strains.
Heuchera Seeds for Sale
The species of Heuchera known as coral bells that are easily available are; Ruby Bells, with stunning deep red flower spikes that bloom heavily from May to July; Palace Purple, a very popular heuchera due to its striking maroon ivy shaped foliage and contrasting sprays of white bell like flowers and Firefly, another red bloomer, much loved by humming birds. If you are interested in striking foliage, then choose Heuchera Metallica, with veined leaves in shades of mahogany, bronze, aluminum and silver, or Heuchera Emperor's Cloak, which have puckered, crinkled leaves, from a deep purple to a beetroot red color that seem like they are transparent in the sun. You can also find heuchera seeds of more unusual species at seed exchanges, but be sure to have something interesting to offer in return.
Harvest and Grow your own Heuchera seeds
If you already have a few heucheras, and want to experiment, then harvest their seeds and see what grows. To collect the seeds, you will need to run your fingers very gently up the flower stalk, once the seed pods are dry but before they open. It is a good idea to have a paper bag underneath to catch stray seeds as they are very small and you will get a lot of chaff too, just pick out the largest pieces. You can either then plant these seeds outside in the fall, or germinate them in pots and grow on under lights, or in seed trays. Heucheras need light to germinate, so do not cover them with soil. If planting outside, avoid heavy, wet soil; choose the drier areas of your garden. You could try an experiment, plant some in pots with vermiculite or perlite mixed in, and some outside, but remember to label the seed bed. Heuchera seeds are tiny, so if pot sowing, do not overdo it or you will get hundreds of seedlings. The resulting plants are unlikely to look much like their parents, but it could be an adventure finding out what will appear over the growing months.
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Author Bio Box: Patricia Wainwright
Get all the facts about seeds and organic gardening at GreenThumbArticles.com!
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