Fantastic Foamflower: A Springtime Show in Shade

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Geoffrey Mehl

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If I had to name one “go-to” plant for woodland landscapes, foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) would certainly be one among the top contenders. As a groundcover, a border plant, an accent or a rock garden stalwart, foamflower rewards gardeners with a reliably charming spring display of flowers and oh-so-easy propagation.

A new clump of Tiarella cordifolia launches racemes of delicate flowers in late May

Up close, it’s easy to see how the plant earned its name “foamflower.”

These pink-flowered foamflowers tumble out over stone as they send out runners, looking for new spots to root.

In all my years as a native-plant gardener, I’ve only purchased three foamflower plants. Those three quickly became 60 (which I moved to a new bed in the middle of drought). I’d guesstimate that now I’ve got more than 300 of these beauties in a bed I keep for a standing supply. (I’m planning to harvest a hundred or so at a time to use around my garden and along borders for a wonderful springtime show.)

As long as you’ve got shade, this tough plant manages to do well in almost any soil. It even handles deep shade! No wonder you can grow foamflower all over the East Coast and the Upper Midwest. (T. cordifolia’s cousin, Wherry’s foamflower – T. cordifolia var. collina – is more common in the Southeast.)

While the plant handles all kinds of conditions, foamflower truly flourishes in its ideal site: light, well-drained (but damp) soil, rich in surface humus, with an acidity range of pH 5-7. You can also treat the plant to some shredded leaf mulch – especially oak leaves, whole birch, maple or other small leaves – in early spring and late fall. Old straw or weathered marsh hay work well, too. Because the plant adapts to almost any shade condition, it’ll thrive in just about any shady spot you’ve got – except directly under dense evergreens.

You should normally plant your foamflowers 1-2 feet apart, depending on the effect you want to create. A lot like strawberries, they’ll slowly and methodically fill in your blank spaces by sending runners out in all directions. If there’s plenty of surrounding ground to occupy, you’ll get a dense patch with a beautiful “foamy” display of late spring flowers that rise up above the foliage on racemes that reach 10-12 inches tall. (For a truly stunning sight, give your foamflowers lots of space to create great drifts of blooms come May.)

While T. cordifolia is great for woodland gardens, as well as for shady borders and as a groundcover, one really neat way to use it is in a rock garden. Simply tuck the plant into pockets of river stones on a slope or in stone walls built from irregular native rocks. Sure, its runners have to work a bit harder to snake through the rubble and find places to root, but foamflower looks great in this setting! And the stones actually act a bit like mulch, keeping the roots cool, moist and safe from burrowing mammals (although I’ve never seen foamflower fall victim to voles). Such displays can be quite imaginative and very attractive.

What’s more, foamflower is nearly evergreen. When the weather cools, the leaves turn purplish or maroon and then droop in winter’s chill. As the winter season takes on full steam, you’ll get the impression that you’ve killed your poor plant. It’ll hobble drearily through early spring (which is okay since there are all kinds of other ephemerals eager to attract your attention). But fear not – as the weather turns warmer, foamflower miraculously recovers, fluffing out in a cheery green and launching its delightful sprays of flowers.

So if your woodland garden is crying out for colorful patches of springtime cheer, pick up some foamflower. It won’t be long before your tiny plants transform themselves into beautiful drifts of foamy blooms!

Facts

Foamflower is such a great garden selection, plant propagators have developed many cultivars of the basic species to choose from! Now you can find plants with light pink to white blossoms and an increasingly colorful range of foliage, as well as hardiness to specific regions.

Tips

Foamflower has fibrous roots and sends out many pinkish runners from its crown. These runners develop delicate, hairy roots at the joints, and a new plant grows. To propagate, just sever the rooted “baby” plants as soon as a new foliage crown develops, then plant it wherever you’d like to add some foamy beauty.
While foamflower prefers a damp (but not wet) habitat, it can also withstand periods of zero rain and no watering with virtually no ill effects – which is especially important if you live in drought-prone areas.

Faqs

Q: Can I grow foamflower from seed?
A: Growing from seed is a bit more challenging, but if you’re eager to try, harvest packets of tiny, black seed when the pods left on flower stems begin to turn light brown and papery at the base. If sown immediately in a greenhouse environment, the seeds can germinate in a month (but viability declines rapidly if the seeds are stored for too long).

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