The flood of new varieties of Heuchera that have originated in the United States has perhaps distracted us from the fact that Europe is also generating some superb new varieties.
One of the best of recent introductions, from France, was a finalist in this year’s Chelsea Flower Show Plant of The Year competition. Heuchera ‘Circus’ was developed by Thierry Delabroye who also created ‘Caramel’ and the superb ‘Citronelle’. At Chelsea Vicky Fox, of the Heuchera specialists Plantagogo, explained why it’s so special.
“It’s an amazing plant for the garden. It’s evergreen, it produces beautiful flowers of cream and pink, and it produces this kaleidoscope of colour of leaves through the seasons, it changes as the seasons go on…. As the weather cools down the leaves change to this beautiful pink. In the spring you’ve got mint with a burgundy veining and in the summer it’s a buttery mint – I can’t think of any other way to describe it at this time of year. The veining fades as the weather goes warmer and then as it cools those leaves will change to pink. It’s really easy to grow, it’s easy to maintain, of course heucheras are really good garden plants.”
‘Circus’ has Heuchera villosa in its background which ensures that not only is it hardy through the winter but that it is also tolerant of extremes of summer heat. It looks to be an especially good plant to grow as a specimen in a container.
Source: My Garden – Royal Horticultural Society – Heuchera ‘Circus’: Plant of The Year Finalist
