Useful Advice for Planting Red Coral Bells

Heucheras or coral bells are perfect perennials for decorating a garden. Not only do they enhance the beauty of gardens but also save the effort of gardeners in maintaining them. If you are planning to grow red coral bells in your garden, here are some useful guidelines for you:

 Suitable Regions For Growing Red-Leafed Heucheras
Coral bells heuchera having red leaves grows best in regions where temperatures are low. Such regions normally fall in hardiness zones 4 to 8 defined by USDA. These perennial plants can live long in cold areas. Heucheras spread with aging, forming mounding clumps. One can grow heucheras in warm areas as well, but life span of these plants is shorter in warmer climates.


Choosing the Right Location in your Garden:
Unlike green-leafed heucheras which can grow well even in full sunlight, coral bells with red foliage grow best in areas having full shade. However, heucheras grown in full shade are less likely to bloom. So, it is better to plant these in dappled shade. This will facilitate the growth of flowers in your coral bells plants. For proper growth, these plants need a well-drained soil that has plenty of organic matter. The soil can be moist but not soggy. This is because soggy soil can result in root rot.

Garden Decoration With Coral Bells
Red coral bells in a garden need to be placed in such a manner that their foliage is visible. While the foliage grows low, flowers of heucheras can grow up to height of 2 feet. Due to this reason, most gardeners prefer to grow these plants along the border of flower bed or along the edge of a path. Another good idea is to plant heucheras right in front of your shrubs. This works best when you grow heucheras in a rock garden having enough shade, or when you grow them in containers and keep them in a cool place.

Complementing Heucheras with Right Plants
Based on your style of garden decoration, you can complement the red foliage of your heucheras with a plant having leaves of contrasting color such as golden or bright green. You can find many varieties of hostas and heucheras having foliage of golden or green color. For a simple look, you can choose plants with red leaves. However, requirements of these plants should be similar to that of your coral bells. Leather leaf sedge and some varieties of begonias are ideal for this purpose.