Alumroot

Heuchera americana

American Alumroot is the species from which hundreds of hybrid heuchera cultivars descended. the tough, adaptable, long-lived eastern woodland native that breeders used as a foundation for decades of showy coral bells. The straight species is less colorful than its cultivated offspring but more ecologically valuable, with genuinely evergreen foliage that supports the native insects the hybrid cultivars can't. The greenish-white flower sprays are delicate, airy, and beloved by hummingbirds. The leaves are variable in the wild. some individuals show lovely silver mottling and dark veining, others are plainer green. All are tough, attractive, and semi-evergreen through most winters. This is the native plant that all those flashy coral bells are trying to be: adaptable, deer resistant, and genuinely functional in the woodland garden ecosystem.