By Rachelsmum
Cardiff,
Wales 
I am taking part in a "Gardeners Question Time" next
week! Cant think why, there are plenty of people in the Flower Arranging Club who I think are more knowledgeable than myself!
A question which I have been given in advance is as follows:
"We have several varieties of heuchera which have hitherto thrived in our clay soil. But last year a couple of them sent up an unsightly central pillar. We cut these off and tried to root them without success. The plants now look very straggly. Can you explain the change in them and advise what we can do to revive them?"
I would advise them to lift the outer plants, pot them up and replant them when they are strong enough.would you agree?
11 Feb, 2017
Answers
Depends what they mean by 'unsightly central pillar'. They may be referring to Heuchera's habit of producing an ugly, almost woody, knobbly looking broad stem. The way to avoid it doing that is to lift and divide every 2 or 3 years, in autumn, which usually stops that happening; digging over the area where they were and incorporating garden compost or composted manure to replenish the soil, then replanting is advisable for best results. Once its happened, I'd still lift and divide, following the same procedure, but preferably removing the top part of the ugly stem.
It's possible the soil they're growing in now has an abundance of vine weevil larvae - they do like a heuchera, so if the plants have been in for some time, digging them up and having a look is probably advisable, especially if they intend to replace the plants in that area.
11 Feb, 2017
I've had a lot that do this. It's like they push themselves up out of the soil. I just replant a bit deeper and if you have small plantlets round the edge with roots, replant those too. It works for me.
11 Feb, 2017