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Heuchera 'Canyon Melody' (Canyon Melody Coral Bell) - This evergreen mat-like herbaceous perennial forms 3 ½-inches tall dense tuft to 1 foot wide with small 1 ¼-inch wide leaves. In spring, rising above the foliage on densely clothed 12-inch stalks are the medium-pink flowers that have a touch of white.
Plant in light shade with regular summer water - it can be grown in full sun in coastal gardens and is cold hardy to 10° F. This charming little plant, a diminutive form of one of its parents, the fabulous Heuchera 'Canyon Pink', works well as a groundcover or intermixed with perennials.
Heuchera 'Canyon Melody' is a hybrid created by Santa Barbara Botanic Garden's legendary plant breeder Dara Emery and is the result of crossing Heuchera 'Canyon Pink', a hybrid between Heuchera sanguinea and Heuchera rubescens, with Heuchera elegans. It was selected in 1993 and given the garden's accession number SBBG# 93-180 and released in 2001 as part of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Heuchera Quartet Series that also included Heuchera 'Canyon Chimes', Heuchera 'Canyon Duet' and Heuchera 'Canyon Belle'. It was marketed nationally by Plant Haven after receiving US Plant Patent PP13,276, which has since expired.
In their book "Heuchera and Heucherellas: Coral Bells and Foamy Bells" Timber Press 2005 authors Dan Heims and Grahame Ware note that Linnaeus named Heuchera for Johann Heinrich von Heucher, professor of medicine and Botany at Wittenberg University and that the name Heuchera should be pronounced following this person's name that it commemorates, meaning it so be pronounced HOY-ker-uh, but like most people, we continue to pronounce it HUE-ker-ah.
We grew this nice cultivar from 2000 until 2006 but discontinued it as we thought the parent plant 'Canyon Pink' tougher and more useful in California gardens. We regret this action as it now appears that this very nice plant may have been lost to the trade. More information on this plant can be found on the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden's Heuchera 'Canyon Melody' Plant Introduction Page.
This information about Heuchera 'Canyon Melody' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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