Could any plant be more versatile in the garden than coral bells? Sun or shade, it’s hard to beat this easy-care perennial. With a rainbow of available foliage colors, almost anyone should be able to find one (or several!) to blend into the garden.
ALL ABOUT THE FOLIAGE Once upon a time, coral bells were simply mounds of green foliage with thin wands of coral-pink blooms. Now you can find this perennial in shades of green, chartreuse, amber, peach, orange, red, bronze and purple. And although there are plenty of bold solid-colored varieties, such as ‘Caramel’ and ‘Black Pearl’ in the photo at right, breeders have also developed foliage with intricate vein patterns and lacy or metallic-looking overlays, as you can see on ‘Green Spice.’ All of this exciting variety makes a plant geek like me want one of each kind.
Flowers are not usually as showy as the foliage, but the spikes of dainty blossoms serve to accent the eye-catching leaves without stealing their thunder. The tiny bell-shaped blooms dangling from tall spires can be red, pink, green, coral or white, and attract hummingbirds and other pollinators to the garden. While coral bells breeding programs have mostly concentrated on unique
