Tiarella Crow Feather

Tiarella 'Crow Feather' is a sumptuous variety of hybrid tiarella, offering exceptional foliage, richly coloured in autumn and winter. Its large, deeply cut and lobed leaves are irregularly maculated with purple to brown at the centre in spring and summer, then they take on extraordinary autumnal shades of pink, salmon, cream, red, purple, and black as soon as the first cold weather sets in. It also offers a lovely spring flowering, in the form of feathery spikes of very pale white to pink. This superb and hardy perennial plant, mostly evergreen, spreads laterally to form an excellent ground cover in cool shade.

Tiarella 'Crow Feather' belongs to the Saxifrage family. This horticultural hybrid is the result of a cross-breeding between Tiarella 'Pinwheel' and an anonymous cultivar derived from the species Tiarella trifoliata var. laciniata. It is a cousin of Heucheras with which it hybridises very easily. It originates from North American undergrowth. Its adult size will reach about 30 cm (12 in) in all directions. This tiarella forms a spreading clump. Its evergreen foliage is truly remarkable in autumn and winter. Its palmate and lobed leaves measure about 10 cm (4 in) in length and are beautifully embossed and marked with a dark central spot, following the outline of its veins. In autumn and winter, they display a riot of colours, ranging from pink, cream, pale salmon and purple to black in the centre. These shades are even more pronounced when temperatures drop during winter. In May, individual, slightly fragrant flowers appear. They are densely arranged in 'brushes' on stems about 30 cm (12 in) tall and offer a beautiful range of very pale pink to white, depending how they fade over time. This plant spreads by stolons and can quickly cover a large area.

In the wild, tiarellas are usually found in wooded or mountainous environments, in cool and humus-rich soil. Tiarella 'Crow Feather' will naturally find its place in undergrowth or in a wet rockery, alongside ferns, hostas, Impatiens balfouri, Solomon's seals, and astilbes. It can also be used as a waterside plant, to accompany Rodgersias, an orange Carex testacea in winter, or silver candles. It will also thrive in pots or containers in the shade. It should be planted in a well-drained potting mix with minimal fertiliser, with watering being monitored in summer and reduced in winter. Potted plants will need protection against cold winter winds.

Flower buds are formed during summer, but they will only develop and bloom after being exposed to a minimum of 10 weeks of cold temperatures the following year. Cold is therefore necessary for this perennial to mature.