Did your Hercuhera burn this year?

I have 'Citronelle burn and bleached leaves this year and it was in full shade position that has been there for 3 yrs.

I know it was getting no sun but the sun rays were so strong even full shade it burned.

Oh dear, those lighter ones do that sometimes. We have had a very hot summer here as well. Some of my darker heuchera have Burt leaves.

Summer was cooler then normal here, but very wet. I would say other the the Carnival series it was one of the best Summers for the Heuchera in a long time.

@springcolor I was puzzled that they burned with zero sun. It is under a oak tree that lets not sun in. I never thought of heat alone would burn the leaves, We did have a hot summer.

I grow all my Hercs in pots I even removed it from the garden and put it against the house where it was dark and that did not help. The soil is rich moist homemade compost so they are kept at a consistent moisture. I think it would have died if I had it in the garden this year. The leaves are smaller but it is a huge plant. It is as big as my hostas now.

@NJBob I thought all of the east coast was hot this year. Our Spring was wetter than normal but Summer was hotter than normal.

Mt. Cuba trials gave Citronelle a 4.7 out of 5.0, implying a very high quality, vigorous cultivar:

http://mtcubacenter.org/trials...

But I tried to grow it several years ago and lost it.

This year I planted numerous Heucheras, some in the ground and some in pots, and all did well. I watered them until they were established, but the rain here was sufficient and well spaced for most of the summer, so it was not necessary to water most of the time. Cultivars are shown in my plant list.

I have been very pleased with the vigor of all the Heuchera cultivars I planted this spring. Caution: none were light green like Citronelle, so I may have selected particularly vigorous cultivars.

I have one cultivar, Peach Melba, planted several years ago (same year I planted Citronelle), that has struggled in a near-death state ever since I planted it, so I know from first-hand experience that there are dramatic differences in vigor among Heuchera cultivars.

Cinta , glad you finally had success with that cultivar. Never had any luck with that one until I planted it in a raised bed that is under the eve of the house. Seems to do well there. Actually I'm not sure if it is citronella or Pistache.

Cinta last year was one of the hottest on record and we were in drought till this past Spring. This year I have only had to water the garden once all Summer. Sept has been pretty warm but a lot of Aug had highs in the 70 to low 80's. And I do not remember a day over 100 this Summer.

Cinta,

I'm in New England, and I agree with NJBob's assessment of this summer....BUT...I did notice my Curly Fries hosta, which has been in the same place for several years, got totally toasted. The leaves bleached out and then fried. I am wondering if it got 'sunburned' because we did get so much rain...Maybe the water sitting on the leaves when the sun came out contributed. I'm not sure, because I always thought that was bunkum, and that it was better to water in the middle of the day if you have to, rather than not water at all....but I this year was not dry, so I can't begin to figure what else it could be.

Jen

@NHJenDion, I think you are right I did not think of the wet leaves and sun connection. We did get a lot of rain. I do have my curly fries hosta in a pot and I put it in the sun so I expected it to bleach. I could not understand why the Herc was getting burned being in deep shade with absolutely no sun.

I started to grow my hostas in pots in the sun the first couple of years to get express growth.

I finally discovered the problem. It needed to be divided. It was so full I did not see that it had turtle necked and the root was so far up I assume each division was not getting moisture and nutrition and it was weak and stressed.

I divided this year and the divisions are looking good.

Glade to hear they came around. that happens quite a few times with these plants.