Hairy Alumroot

Hairy alumroot is a native perennial with large velvety leaves covered in fine hairs, soft enough that people reach out and touch them. Heuchera villosa grows 1 to 2 feet tall and wide in part sun to part shade, hardy from Zone 4 through Zone 9. Airy sprays of tiny white flowers rise well above the foliage in late summer and fall, at a point when most shade plantings have finished. Bees and hummingbirds come to them through the bloom. The leaves are broad, maple-shaped, and soft to the touch, forming a substantial mound rather than a tight rosette. They stay green through summer and hold late into the season, and the hairy surface is part of why this species handles heat and humidity as well as it does. This grows wild on rocky slopes and wooded bluffs in the southeastern mountains, so it handles drought once established and wants soil that drains. Winter wet is what kills heucheras. The crown lifts out of the ground over a few years, so resetting it deeper every third spring keeps the plant solid. Deer leave it alone.