The story of Heuchera 'Caramel' begins in the spring of 2002, with an unwanted single plant of H. villosa 'Autumn Bride' which Sandrine Delabroye decided to plant in her parents garden rather than throwing it away.

When Sandrine returned to her parents garden the same summer she noticed that the plant appeared to have a more yellow-greenish appearance than other villosa Heucheras.

Heuchera 'Caramel'

Aware of Thierry's fascination for new plant discoveries, she brought it back to the nursery for him to examine. Thierry was indeed very interested in this mutation, and decided to sew seeds collected from the plant to see what other possibilities might emerge.

Upon checking the seedlings the following spring, he found just 2 plants which were out of the ordinary - but what special plants they were, as these were the plants which became H. 'Caramel' and H. 'Brownies'.

At 3 years old, this is the original H. 'Caramel' motherplant. Its mature colour shows intense ruby tones.

As as a grower, Thierry was sceptical about the appearance of not one, but 2 fantastic new plants: "I didn't believe we had a mircale in our hands! But as time went on and we progressed into summer, we began to become convinced of the plants' exceptional vigour, just like other villosa species Heucheras."  

Many young plants of Heuchera 'Caramel' growing in Thierry's nursery

When Luc Klinkhammer, an influential plant trader, came to visit the nursery he was immediately smitten with H. 'Caramel', realising that its combination of colour and strength were just the qualities the market was crying out for!

H. 'Caramel' was such a show-stealer that its twin sister 'Brownies' was initially missed as another potential star. Thierry remembers: "We thought it looked too much like Heuchera 'Palace Purple' to be interesting, but by the Autumn Sandrine and I noticed that it's growth was far better than 'Palace Purple' - in just 7 months it had reached a span of 50cm and whatsmore, the foliage was curly!"

Heuchera 'Brownies'

Following further observation of H. 'Brownies' impressive stance, huge foliage and elegant dome-shaped habit, it also gained Luc's seal of approval and was introduced in 2006.

H. 'Caramel' was officially lainched at Courson (the largest plant exhibition in France) in October 2004, by the well known French comdian Elie Semoun, who also happens to be a client of Thierry's!