A New Generation of Coral Bells

A New Generation of Coral Bells

From Focus on Flowers by Indiana Public Media

February 26, 2026 · 2 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the new generations of coral bells, highlighting their improved foliage and various colorful varieties.

Plant families are like human families in that successive generations of their members often have improved looks, health, longevity, and vitality. This is certainly true of the latest versions of the heucheras , commonly known as coral bells. So many new heucheras are now available in many different foliage colors and combinations. The flowers themselves, spires of tiny florets that are raised high above the leaves, have not changed much but the leaves are almost unrecognizable when compared with the ordinary green leaves that this family of plants had in the past. If you browse online you will be amazed by the new generations of this common shade-loving perennial. The fanciful names evoke wonderful visual images of each of the new heuchera varieties. For example, ‘Forever Purple’, ‘Georgia Peach’, ‘Cherry Truffles’, and ‘Carnival Limeade’ give one an idea of the single-colored purple, peach, cherry, and lime foliage. But, there are also bicolor leaves featured on some of the new varieties. For example, ‘Red Lightning’ that has handsome chartreuse leaves with red veins and ‘Cinnamon Curls’ with cinnamon curly edged leaves. The photos in catalogs and online of this new plant…

Topics covered

  • coral bells
  • heucheras
  • perennials
  • plant families
  • gardening

Keywords

  • plant varieties
  • shade-loving plants
  • foliage colors
  • spring planting

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Forever Purple, Georgia Peach, Cherry Truffles, Carnival Limeade, Red Lightning, Cinnamon Curls

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