Heuchera Southern Comfort

The Heuchera 'Southern Comfort' is a beautiful perennial that forms a ground-covering clump. Its stunning foliage starts out peach-coloured and slowly turns to copper orange. It brightens up partially shaded or slightly sunny flower beds. From late summer to autumn, it produces delicate cream-white bell-shaped flower spikes, adding to its appeal even late in the season. It can also be used in pots.

Heucheras have become essential plants in our gardens in recent years. Their evergreen foliage, available in multiple shades, adds brilliance to flower beds. These plants from the Saxifragaceae family make fantastic borders for flower beds. They also perform very well in pots, allowing them to decorate even modest terraces. The 'Southern Comfort' heuchera reaches a height of about 30 cm (12in) and a width of 40 cm (16in). Its beautiful serrated foliage appears in subtle shades of peach and apricot, and then turns into a vibrant copper orange. Between August and October, the plant produces tall pyramidal cream-white flower spikes, exceeding 50 cm (20in) in height. These panicles dry up on the plant, providing the plant with a very long period of interest. 

The Heuchera 'Southern Comfort', like many heucheras, is not very demanding when it comes to soil type, as long as it is well-drained. In heavy soil, it is preferable to lighten the planting soil with sand or well-rotted compost. It prefers partial shade or light sun, as it still needs some light to express its beautiful colours. Intense sun would cause the leaves to fade and damage. Once established, it can tolerate temporary droughts. You can also easily propagate it by cuttings, by taking a section of its creeping stems, allowing you to create a whole border in a few years. This is also a way to regenerate the clump, which sometimes tends to thin out after 3 to 5 years of growth.

Plant this heuchera in large numbers to create a spectacular and ground-covering effect, but you can also mix it with other varieties with similar colours like 'Caramel'. On the other hand, you can play with contrasts, such as with the 'Lime Rickey' heuchera for example. In shade, it will enhance the foliage of 'Devon Green' hostas, and pair perfectly with the coppery fern Dryopteris erythrosora. Lastly, it also performs well in pots.