Thank you, Cindi.
When I lived in southern California, I grew everything in containers because I owned a condo. The only plants that were not stolen were the roses. That's how I became a rose nut.
This is a less friendly climate for container planting because it is hot and dry for at least three months. Then in our normal winters, it is cold and wet. Once night temps are below freezing, I put the hoses away and let plants be watered by nature. This winter, because of the drought in California, I had to pull them out and water every three weeks. That was not fun.
For the rest of the summer, I can expect temps to be around 100F by noon and it doesn't cool down until about 9pm. I don't work outside when it's that hot.
As I said above, I am just keeping them in containers long enough to grow a larger root mass. That helps plants handle both the heat and the cold better when I put them in the ground.
I know enough about container gardening to know that some plants don't want their roots messed with at all, so you plant them in their final container right off the bat. Others, need to be potted up gradually to grow a solid root mass. I don't know what's best for heucheras.
Gardening on five levels means that I don't get to each level every day. The heucheras I've planted, 'Silver Scrolls', 'Amethyst Myst' and 'Autumn Leaves' seem to do OK with my current watering program. So, I am hopeful others will be just as accommodating.
My 'Autumn Leaves' has very red flowers. I didn't get a shot while it was blooming, but I do like the foliage in spring and fall. During the summer months, it looks kind of muddy. It was the slowest heuchera to get established, but I like it well enough to keep it.
I know what you mean about it being hard to give up a daylily. One of the hardest lessons this garden taught me was that roses are regional and some roses simply will not be able to handle the heat up here. I had to give away some of my favorite roses to people who were able to provide afternoon shade for the plants. That hurt.
Thanks for taking the time to look at my questions.
Smiles,
Lyn