Heuchera villosa Black Beauty

Heuchera 'Black Beauty', with its bubbling and glossy foliage of rich purple with brown reflections, will delight fans of dark plants. This variety retains its leaves all year round, both in summer and winter, revealing in their intense undulations ruby-red glimmers, as well as a lovely purple-magenta reverse. Above this broad cushion of leaves, arched stems rise in late spring, carrying a creamy-pinkish cloud-like flowering of infinite lightness. This heuchera is a greedy plant that requires fertile and moist soil. It tolerates heat fairly well, but not scorching sun. In the garden, it will form a fantastic ground cover and in pots on the terrace, it will stand out off the beaten track.

Heuchera Black Beauty, registered in 2002, belongs to the Saxifragaceae family. While its parentage is unknown, it is a presumed descendant of Heuchera americana, a species with highly ornamental foliage native to the central and northern United States. This dark-leaved cultivar is a vigorous hybrid that will quickly make an impact in the garden as well as in pots.

The plant will reach an average height of 30 cm (12 in) (for foliage) and 50-60 cm (20-24 in) in width in 3-4 years. This heuchera forms a lovely spreading cushion-like clump that is dense and compact. Its evergreen foliage is the major asset of this plant: its leaves are rather erect and elongated, with intensely lobed and undulating laminae. They have a particularly remarkable colour, which is very enduring throughout the seasons and has a shiny appearance. Their colour combines dark brown-purple with some red highlights. The oldest leaves are covered with a more greyish glaze. The flowering of this variety is fairly discreet but light and airy; it begins in May and continues until June. The flowers, in small bell shapes, are white-cream with a pink calyx and are arranged along an upright and arched stem.

Heuchera Black Beauty is an astonishing ground cover for partially shaded areas of the garden and even slightly dry areas in summer. Its foliage remains decorative throughout the year and its flowering adds a lot of lightness to any setting. For example, combine it with the blue blooms of forget-me-nots, Omphalodes verna, brunneras, ajugas, columbines, bellflowers, or the lush foliage of hostas, always far from the heat of the sun. It always makes a successful pairing with foamflowers. It grows very well in pots, in the company of grasses like Carex testacea and Agropyron magellanicum. In a small shady rockery, it will accompany small ferns like Adiantum pedatum, or the beautiful marbled foliage of Asarum splendens. When planted em masse, it will form an unusual border along an east-facing pathway.