Is Coral Bells (Heuchera) deer resistant?

Shade-tolerant, evergreen in mild winters, and grown almost entirely for foliage color that runs from lime through caramel to near black.

Deer browse it lightly in hard winters and leave it otherwise. The bigger threat is frost heave: heuchera has a shallow woody crown that lifts itself out of the ground over a freeze-thaw winter, exposing the roots to dry out. Check plants in late winter and firm any that have risen, or replant them slightly deeper.

Divide every three or four years for the same reason, cutting the woody base back and replanting the rooted pieces.

The darkest cultivars hold color best with a few hours of morning sun. In deep shade they revert toward green.

Do deer eat coral bells?

Seldom. Rutgers rates Heuchera Seldom Severely Damaged, B, and NC State says why: "Tannin in the leaves is unappetizing to deer and rabbits." The leaf is the whole plant, evergreen in mild winters, and a hard winter is when it is browsed, lightly, by a deer with nothing better. The second tier is the honest tier for it: a clump loses a few leaves in February and is not harmed.

Are coral bells deer resistant?

More than most shade perennials and less than the top tier. Coral bells sit with astilbe, columbine and foam flower in the band deer browse and rarely ruin, one step below hellebore and bleeding heart, and several steps above the hosta they are usually planted beside. In a shaded bed that has lost its hostas, coral bells are the plant that was left.

Where it grows

NC State: zones 3a to 9b, 6 inches to 1 foot 8 inches, full sun to partial shade, summer flowers on wiry stems, with leaf scorch in full sun during hot dry weather and root rot in wet ground as the listed troubles. Frost heave in freeze-thaw winters lifts the shallow woody crown and is the usual cause of death.

Protecting coral bells

Rarely needed. Where winter browse is a problem, a mulch over the crown does more good against the heaving than any spray does against the deer.

If it is browsed

New leaves come from the crown in spring, and a browsed plant is indistinguishable from an unbrowsed one by May. A crown that has heaved out of the ground is the one to worry about; firm it or replant it deeper.