Tolerates full sun along the coast and partial shade inland in most soils but not heavy clays. Best with regular irrigation but surprisingly tolerant of drier conditions. Cold hardy to 10-15 degrees F. Works well as an edging plant, mass to form an attractive ground cover and can provide color and contrast to the rock garden or open woodland garden. Like other Heuchera it is also attractive to bees and hummingbirds.

Heuchera sanguinea comes from the mountains of south eastern Arizona, south western New Mexico and adjacent areas in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Linnaeus named Heuchera for Johann Heinrich von Heucher, professor of medicine and Botany at Wittenberg University and the specific epithet means "blood red" in reference to the color of the flowers This cultivar is also known as Heuchera sanguinea 'Leuchtkäfer' and 'Glow Worm' and also is sometimes included as a cultivar of Heuchera x brizoides.

In their book "Heuchera and Heucherellas: Coral Bells and Foamy Bells" Timber Press 2005 authors Dan Heims and Grahame Ware note that since this plant was named for Johann Heinrich von Heucher that the name Heuchera should be pronounced following the pronunciation of his name as HOY-ker-uh, but like most people, we continue to pronounce it HUE-ker-ah. We have grown this nice plant since 1997. 

This information about Heuchera sanguinea 'Firefly'' displayed on this web page is based on research we have conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations we have made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how our crops have performed in containers in the nursery field. Where appropriate, we will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant.