Tiarella is the latest plant added to my arsenal as I try to lessen, if not eliminate our lawn, otherwise known as the Flowery Mead where thrive violets, dandelions, hawkweeds and many other wildflowers. These tiarellas are planted east of the Peony Hedge, and west of  what will be the Hydrangea Hedge.  Tiarella, also known as foam flower, for obvious reasons, is a native flower and groundcover. It likes the shade and requires no care. In the photo you can see that it is planted in a strip where I removed the sod, dug in a little compost and planted three tiarellas. They will spread in every direction which means I will have to remove more grass this year. If they grow into the peonies I will divide them and move the divisions to another newly grass-less spot.

This area gets shade all morning, and gets some shade from the peonies in the afternoon. The foliage is as pretty as the foamy flowers. I love getting rid of lawn, especially when it means adding early spring bloom.

Last year I planted Heucherella ‘Dayglow Pink’ in the North Lawn Bed. Heucherellas are a cross between heucheras or coral bells, and tiarellas. The advantage is the various colors of heuchera foliage, and more prominent flowers. Heucherellas also bloom later, in June and July, and can take a lot more sun than the tiarellas. I’m wondering whether I should add some heucherellas to the tiarella area. What do you think?