The perhaps unlikely mother of them all was an unwanted plant of H. villosa 'Autumn Bride' which Thierry's wife Sandrine decided to 'rescue' by planting it in her parents' garden instead of throwing it away.  

When she returned to the garden in the summer of 2002, Sandrine noticed that the plant appeared to have a more yellow-green appearance than other villosa Heucheras.  

She returned this apparent mutation to Thierry, who proceded to collect the seeds it produced that year to see what would come of them.  

Clockwise from left: H. 'Caramel', H. 'Citronelle', H. 'Mocha', H. 'Brownies'

Of all the seedlings produced, 2 plants really stood out, and these became H. 'Caramel' and H. 'Brownies'.  

In 2005 Sandrine discovered a citrus coloured mutation of H. 'Caramel' among plants she was preparing for a show, and this became the 2007 introduction H. 'Citronelle.  

In the meantime Thierry had been crossing H. 'Brownies' with other darker varieties, which in 2005 also resulted in another 2007 introduction H. 'Mocha'.

With their common ancestry in H. villosa 'Autumn Bride', this quartet of fabulously coloured varieties have all inherited qualities of size, strength and the ability to withstand a lot more sun exposure than similarly coloured varieties.