Garden composition is a matter of individual taste, but some recommendations should be adhered to.
QUICK ANSWER: Coral Bells look good with low, medium-sized perennials such as hostas, brunneras, tiarellas, and pulmonarias. Plant them at least one foot apart and you’ll soon have a fantastic view.
Hosta
The first best companion for Coral Bells is hostas. They also prefer shade or partial shade and have beautiful, large leaves.
You want to choose hosta varieties with medium-sized leaves. Large-leafed hostas can suppress heucheras. As a result, heucheras will not be as prominent in the bed. The best option is to pick up a variety that is proportional in size.
The red, yellow, and purple Coral Bells combine most beautifully with the blue, green, and variegated hostas.
Read also: How to Grow Coral Bells
Brunnera
A great companion for Coral Bells is Brunnera. This is a fascinating plant with rounded silver-white leaves on which you can see green veins.
Brunnera is hardy and can grow almost anywhere in the United States. Like heucheras, It likes to grow in dappled shade, so both plants can thrive in the same sunny exposure.
Brunnera leaves are slightly larger than Coral Bells but they look great together nonetheless. Moreover, the silvery Brunnera leaves are an excellent contrast to the dark maroon and yellow heucheras.
Brunnera is about the same size as Coral Bells, so neither plant will dominate the other. The result is a colorful combination of low bushes.
Tiarella
Tiarella is very similar to Coral Bells. It has the same small leaves, but with more pronounced lobes. In addition, the color of the leaves is primarily green or a combination of a green edge and a black middle of the leaf.
Tiarella is bushy and about the same size as Coral Bells. The only difference is that some varieties have a trailing growth habit.
A slight discrepancy between these plants is that Tiarella likes more shady and humid places. At the same time, Coral Bells prefer well-drained soil and can tolerate more sunlight.
Nevertheless, they can be successfully grown in the same bed under approximately the same conditions.
Some Tiarella varieties’ more dissected and striped leaves will be a great companion to the more rounded and colorful Heuchera leaves.
Pulmonaria
Pulmonaria comes next. Like Coral Bells, it prefers light shade. It is extremely hardy and can grow in the same place as heucheras.
Pulmonaria has narrower and more elongated leaves than Coral Bells, which is an excellent contrast in shape. The leaves of Pulmonaria are primarily green with silvery spots, which also varies the composition of the perennials.
Pulmonaria can grow up to 10 inches tall and 2 feet wide. If you give both plants 2 feet of space, they won’t compete in the same bed.
In addition to the interesting foliage, Pulmonaria has amazing little bright pink and purple flowers. This will create an impressive mosaic of colors and shapes in your garden.
Both plants do not have strict soil and care requirements. They will thrive with moderate watering and minimal fertilizer.
Heucherella
And last on the list is Heucherella. It is very similar to Coral Bells because it combines Tiarella and Heuchera. As a result, it got the best of both parents.
Heucherella has beautiful leaves with prominent lobes. The leaves can be colored in many different ways. The growth habit can be either bushy or trailing.
It likes slightly wetter conditions and less sun than Heuchera. This is not a barrier to growing them together, though.
Combining these two plants can produce an amazing look of different colors and leaf shapes. Their size allows them to be grown together without much trouble.
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