Is tiarella supposed to keep its leaves in the winter?

[Christie-SW-MO]

I have a few heucheras but got my first heucherella and tiarella last year. Neither seem as drought tolerant as heuchera, especially the tiarella. I tried to keep it watered almost every day but could tell it was shrinking in our late summer heat and drought. Our winter has been very dry as well and I can't find my tiarella.
I assumed its leaves would be evergreen and that it's dead and then got a little spark of hope that it will come back in the spring. Any chance?

[KellieD]

Tiarella does go dormant, so don't give up on it yet!

[viktoria]

Sorry to contradict you, Kellie, but I find Tiarellas semi-evergreen here. The foliage turns shades of burgundy in the fall, and that is what I see in the spring until new growth hides the old. This applies to (at least) my own T. 'Glen Freckles', 'Heronswood Mist' and another variegated one, so I would expect it to hold true for other varieties as well, although I haven't particularly noticed. Since the snow melted again, I'll go take a look today.

[viktoria]

Here is 'Glen Freckles'. I thought I had pics of fall/winter color as well, but they may have disappeared along with the old computer. OK, found one of T. wherryi. Remnants of last year's leaves are visible at bottom center.

[Chris_W]

My tiarella don't go very dormant, but aren't purely evergreen, so I would agree that they are semi-evergreen.

I've found that tiarella are usually very drought tolerant but not very heat tolerant. The heucherella are usually more like the heuchera in their growth, but I've had a few exceptions with those too. If you were watering every day there may have actually been a chance that their decline was from too much water. When ours get too much water they wilt and then slowly decline.

In our growing areas we plant the crowns of our tiarella a little below the soil so they are covered by about 1/2 to 1" of good garden dirt. This seems to protect them from the heat. We don't give them much supplemental water, like I said, and they seem to multiply nicely. You will even find that the stems often root out along the ground, so as they grow out of the soil I will topdress with compost.

Good luck!

Chris

[viktoria]

T. 'Glen Freckles' will, believe it or not, even grow in standing water! Conventional wisdom is that Tiarellas require good drainage. Guess there is an exception to every rule?

[Christie-SW-MO]

ahhhhh - It didn't occur to me that it was the heat bothering it and that the extra water wasn't helping. It was getting some morning sun so maybe I should've shaded it more. I don't think it would do any better next year, even with more shade. Our summers are probably just too hot.
And I didn't mean that the color of the leaves was not "green". I can't see anything at all above the soil. Not good?
If it lives, I'll send it to the coast to live.

[Christie-SW-MO]

I've been trying to think of the name by the way and can't find the tag for it. I think it was Neon Lights. I bought it at the same time as heucherella Stoplight because I thought they looked good together. sniff

[Christie-SW-MO]

Follow-up
I found three tiny leaves on my Neon Lights so I guess it survived after all. The biggest leaf is about 1/2 wide so it's probably near death the poor thing. Any suggestions on how to revive it? Should I dig it up and pot it? I'm sure it couldn't handle another hot summer here if I leave it in the same spot.

[KellieD]

Everything I looked up on tiarella said it was herbaceous, meaning it dies to the ground in the winter.
It is only March and I wouldn't expect a leaf to be full sized yet, any way. Go ahead and lift it and transplant it to a cooler, shadier, moister site.
Barring that, expect it to go dormant in the summer.