Heuchera 'Sweet Tea'

Plant Patent 21,296.

A brilliant foliage plant, the 'Sweat Tea' Heucherella is a perfect addition to your shade garden. Its scalloped leaves and cinnamon and orange color is sure to complement your yard's other hues and provide your outdoor area with a truly unique appearance.

This Heucherella remains vibrant throughout the year and becomes even more beautiful and robust during the summer months when the air is moist and humid. 'Sweet Tea' is very resilient to the heat of the south and actually feeds off of the heat, making it thicker and more brilliant.

'Sweet Tea' loves shade and boasts cream colored blooms during the late spring, attracting an abundance of butterflies. These blooms are a beautiful accent to the plant and can be enjoyed as-is or snipped for an indoor bouquet. In warmer climates, the Heucherella is an evergreen that boasts its gorgeous hues through the winter. In more northern climes, it dies temporarily during the coldest months only to come back even stronger the following spring.

This plant makes for a great groundcover and is rarely the victim of pests or disease. It's also ideal for borders and containers as well. This plant is appropriate for zones 4-9 and grows to around 20 inches in height and 28 inches in width.

• Butterflies like a lot of sunlight, so locate your garden in a sunny area.
• If you live in a windy location, plant your butterfly-attracting plants near a building, fence, or hedge to protect them.
• Plant a variety of nectar-rich plants, as well as shrubs and evergreens for shelter.
• Since many butterflies and native flowering plants have co-evolved, try to put in some that are native to your area. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center provides lists of plants native to states and regions.
• Certain colors are particularly attracting to butterflies – red, yellow, pink, purple, or orange blooms that are clustered or flat-topped, with a short flower tubes are especially attractive to adult butterflies.
• Avoid using pesticides, especially around nectar-producing plants.
• Provide a shallow source of water – try a birdbath with pebbles lining the bowl.
• Place a rock in a sunny spot for butterfly basking and resting.
• Create a "puddling area" by digging a shallow hole filled with compost or manure where rainwater will collect and release essential salts and minerals.
• If you want butterflies to breed in your garden, put in some caterpillar food plants, such as parsley, milkweeds, asters, thistles, violets, clover, grasses, and Queen Anne’s Lace.
• Since butterflies need nectar throughout the entire adult phase of their lives, try to create a design that will allow for a continuous bloom – when one stops blooming, another starts.

As the deer population has boomed and food has become scarcer, they have become more aggressive. In some areas deer will strip your garden bare, leaving nothing green or flowery behind. While there is no such thing as a completely deer-proof garden, there are some effective things you can do to protect your garden from these hungry animals.

Use physical barriers

A High Fence
Deer can jump pretty high, but a fence higher than eight feet (higher on an up-slope) and flush with the ground will keep any deer out.

Electric Fences
They are a much easier and less expensive solution. Deer generally will not try to jump electric fences, but will rather try to climb through the wires, receiving a deterring shock.

Bird-Netting
An even less extreme physical option is to put bird netting over your larger and more susceptible plants.

Plant Deer-resistant Varieties

Herbs, some conifers, and many flowers are some of the best deer-resistant plants. More fragrant plants will often deter predation. Planting just a few deer-resistant plants will limit grazing of your other plants. Remember, "deer-resistant" does not mean deer-proof. A hungry animal will eat just about anything.

Having a dog In the Family

Owning a dog, especially a big dog will almost always keep deer from approaching your home. Just the scent of the dog will keep most deer away, and if your dog lives outside you will probably never see any deer.

For most gardeners, it is a combination of different solutions that works best. Every gardener has to find the solution that works best in their garden.

Shop All Deer-resistant Plants

Heucherella

Planting:

Plant in well-drained but moisture-retentive soil of high organic content, spacing 18 inches apart. While it will tolerate sun, in the North, it is best in partial shade.

Maintenance:

Remove spent flower spikes to prolong bloom. A 2 to 3-inch mulch is beneficial. Water during periods of drought. Divide, as needed, in spring, (fall in the South.)

Zones:

Zones 3-8

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