Plum Pudding and Midnight Rose are two outstanding coral bell varieties for the home landscape.

Plum Pudding Coral Bells

Plum Pudding coral bells was introduced by Terra Nova. It is considered to be one of their best introductions. The plant received top ratings during plant trials at Mt. Cuba. The compact plant forms a tidy, spreading mound. It is eight inches to a foot in height with a spread of a foot or so.

This plant does well in part sun to shade. It is suited to zones four through nine.

The plant is named for the deeply cut and lobed, plum purple foliage. This is three inches wide with plum veins and silvery plum purple tips.

The mottling on the leaves also adds color as well. The reverse of the leaves is dark purple.

The relatively tall, thin stems are also purple, while the blossoms are creamy pink to burgundy. The flowers tend to be rather insignificant looking compared to the foliage. Flowering begins in May.

Citronelle Coral Bells

Citronelle is an outstanding coral bells hybrid. It was a sport of Caramel coral bells. This also received top ratings at the Mt. Cuba plant trials.

This plant definitely prefers part shade to full shade in hot areas. The plant was bred by Thierry Delabraye. It does best in zones four through nine.

The strong, robust, compact, mounded plant is vigorous. It can be almost a foot to 1½ feet tall with a spread of a foot to 1 ¼ feet.

The large, rounded, lobed leaves are bright yellow or vivid lime to yellow-green, depending on the exposure during the growing season. For the fall and winter months, these change to an intense bronze. Plants grown in full shade will be chartreuse.

This plant largely resembles Caramel coral bells except for the leaf color. Flowering is during the late summer through October. The cream colored blooms appear later than those of most other coral bells. These rise above the foliage on twenty inch long stems.

Midnight Rose coral Bells

Midnight Rose coral bells was discovered in Maryland and was introduced by Terra Nova. This was named the Waking Best New Plant of the year.

This plant was a sport of Obsidian coral bells and was named an international winner.

The plant does best in zones four through nine. The vigorous, rounded perennial is around a foot to two feet in height with a spread of one to two feet.

It is suited to sun and part shade. This is named for the exquisitely colored foliage. The glossy leaves are quite bold looking. They’re blackish-purple with highlights of dark bronze and pink.

As the leaves become larger, the pink area spreads and eventually turns to cream.

The blossoms are relatively insignificant compared to the foliage. Flowering is from May through July. The very dainty airy blossoms are held on two foot tall stems that rise above the foliage.