It's getting into the driest, hottest part of summer here in MI and my heuchera / coral bells are starting to show some dissatisfaction with it. The outer leaves are browning and turning crispy.
My question is: should I prune off the browning/drying outer leaves or leave them on to provide a little sun protection to the inner foliage? Short of transplanting them to shade (I have nowhere to move them to!) what can I do to make sure they are happiest during this time of year?
These plants prefer dappled shade or some shade, particularly during the hottest part of the day in summer. Since you can't move them, apart from popping a sun shade of some sort over them, there's not much you can do apart from increasing water supplies. The brown leaves won't actually do much shading, but if you don't mind looking at them, then you might as well leave them on till the weather cools down for the small protection they may give.
I don't see any evidence of lumps in the topside of the leaves, nor any distortion of leaves, but you might just check the undersides to make sure they're not suffering from a dose of Heuchera rust, a fungal infection to which these plants are prone.
