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Heuchera 'Rosada' (Hybrid Alum Root) - An evergreen perennial with dense rosettes to 12 to 18 inches tall that spread out slowly up to 2 feet wide and holding pale green lobed and scalloped 4 inch wide leaves. The 14 inch tall inflorescences rise above the foliage bearing light pink flowers over a 3 month period, peaking in mid-summer.
Best in in cool part day sun or shade with moderate to only occasional summer water once established and is cold hardy to about 10 degrees F. This is a wonderful and reliable plant and with its one drought tolerant parentage is one of the Coral Bell cultivars most suitable for planting in dry shade. In the UC Davis Arboretum a planting in a sunny location has thrived for many years. A nice plant used in mass or along a border and the flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds.
Heuchera 'Rosada' was introduced under this name by the University of California, Davis Arboretum in 1991 where it had long been previously known as a plant designated as Heuchera T796 that had been growing for decades in the Foothill Section of the arboretum. It is now thought to be a Don Sexton hybrid In 1956 Sexton became the first employed staff at the arboretum as its horticulturist and he actively hybridized other plant and likely created this plant as a hybrid between the Alum Root, Heuchera maxima and Coral Bells, Heuchera sanguinea and from these parents it would have inherited the larger stature, taller inflorescences and better drought tolerance of Heuchera maxima and the larger flower size of Heuchera sanguinea. The foliage is similar to 'Wendy' but the flowers are a softer pink.
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 plant from 2003 to 2005.
This information about Heuchera 'Rosada' 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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