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Heuchera x brizoides Bressingham Hybrids (Bressingham Hybrid Coral Bells) - A seedling group of Heuchera that has tufts of leaves that emerge with a reddish bronze color and mature to a darker greenish bronze. They are about the size of a U.S. quarter with 5 to 9 rounded lobes and have scalloped margins. The flowers, which generally appear in panicles that rise about a foot above the foliage from late spring through summer vary in color from white, whitish pink to red.
This group of Heuchera perform best in cool full to part sun or light shade with regular irrigation and are hardy down to about 10 degrees F. They are useful in a woodland garden setting, along the front edge of the border or as container plants and are attractive to hummingbirds but a little low to the ground to be visited regularly by them.
The Bressingham hybrid seed strain resulted from a group of selections made in 1950 by Alan Bloom and Percy Piper from the plant long in the horticultural trades that was called Heuchera x brizoides, which is thought to be a hybrid cross using a combination of Heuchera americana, Heuchera micrantha and Heuchera sanguinea. Heuchera x brizoides was bred in the late 1800s by Victor Lemoine of the famed nursery Victor Lemoine et Fils at Nancy in Lorraine Province of France and first released in their 1897 catalog. The name Briziodes was chosen by Lemoine because he thought the inflorescence resembled that of one of the Quaking Grasses in the genus Briza. The Bressingham Hybrids have long been the most popular seed strains of Heuchera in the nursery trades internationally.
In their book "Heuchera and Heucherellas: Coral Bells and Foamy Bells" Timber Press 2005 authors Dan Heims and Grahame Ware note that Linnaeus named Heuchera for Johann Heinrich von Heucher, professor of medicine and Botany at Wittenberg University and that the name Heuchera should be pronounced following this person's name that it commemorates, meaning it so be pronounced HOY-ker-uh, but like most people, we continue to pronounce it HUE-ker-ah. We grew and sold this seed propagated plant from 1992 until 2006 but continue to grow a white flowering form we selected in 1986 and list as Heuchera x brizoides 'Bressingham White'.
The information displayed on this page about Heuchera x brizoides Bressingham Hybrids is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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