Tiarella cordifolia – also known as Foamflower

Foamflower is the common name we use to identify Tiarella Cordifolia. It is a clump-forming, perennial, herbaceous plant in nature. The native range of Foamflower expands from Nova Scotia, the Appalachian Mountains to Alabama West to Minnesota in Eastern North America. Also in those areas, this plant loves to grow around Stream banks, woodlands, coves, well drained-bottomlands, and moist forests naturally.

The species Tiarella Cordifolia belongs to the Tiarella Genus and Saxifragaceae family. Here, Tiarella means Crown (tiare) in French. That is because the little fruits made by the foamflower plant, take the shape of a tiare-crown. And Cordifolia means heart-shaped leaves in Latin.

Common name

Foamflower, Heartleaf Foamflower, Allegheny foamflower, False miterwort, are some common names that use to identify Tiarella Cordifolia

Tiarella Cordifolia Foliage

The leaves of Tiarella Cordifolia are green in color,semi-glossy, simple, deciduous, and have basal(Rosulate) arrangements in nature. On the other hand, they are roughly hairy from the top and beneath.

They tend to be evergreen in the southern range and areas that experience mild winters. But in the rest of the North range, the leaf color changes from green to reddish-bronze color during the Fall and Winter season. And you will notice a lack (low-count) of leaves in the northern range compared to the Southern range.

The Foamflower bushes grow long-stalk leaves with 2-4 inches in length and 2-4 inches in width. Each leaf takes a heart shape and has 3-7 heavily toothed-edged lobs. Some leaves may also have reddish color variegated patterns as well.

Tiarella Cordifolia Flower 

The Tiarella Cordifolia flowers bloom in long terminal clusters (racemes). Each flower cluster grows on a longer flowering stem (inflorescence). Which grows about 10- 12 inches in height. And these flowering stalks always rise above the leaf mound level. Therefore the Foamflowers give a highlighted view(Conspicuous Flower) during the blooming time.

In late Spring (early April – early July), The Tiarella flower buds start to arise in pink-tinged color. Then they turn into small, creamy white flower racemes which grow 3-4 inches in length.

The Foamflower starts blooming from the bottom to the top direction in the flower raceme. And each flower has 5 petals and 10 stamens. This blooming and falling process generally lasts 6 weeks. If you have a bed of Foamflowers in your garden, then the fullness of your garden will last until the late Spring. As you will notice some crops’ flowers fade away soon before late-Spring.

Nature of Tiarella Cordifolia

Tiarella Cordifolia is a herbaceous plant. Therefore the whole clump of leaves grows in a basal-like shape. And they connect to a center-crown-like soft stem, were at or below the soil level.

This plant grows in Hardiness zones from 3 – 8 and about 5 – 12 inches in height. Further more, a full-grown Tiarella Cordifolia plant covers 1-1.5 feet radius of the area. 

The foam flower loves to grow in deep shade to partial shade areas. They cannot tolerate drought conditions. In short, they prefer good moisture and drainage in the soil where they are growing. In addition to all of the above, they grow well on humus-rich organic matter. 

The Pollinators and wildlife Behavior around Foamflower

Early season bees, Pollinating flies, Moths, Butterflies, Songbirds, and other pollinators are attracted to the Tiarella Flower. Meanwhile, it’s a good food source for wildlife as well. Deers and rabbits are special among them.

How to plant or Propagate Foamflower in your garden.

The propagation of Tiarella Cordifolia is mainly done in 2 ways, They are,

1. Division

• The main technique of propagating Foamflower is by runners (Rhizomes-Underground stem). And from these rhizome stems, new buds and leaves arises. And form new colonies in new places. 
• Therefore if you wish to propagate tiarella, then divide the runners or crowns from the main stem. Then relocate it to a new place in your garden.
• If you wish to grow them as a flower bed full of colonies, then what you have to do is plant the divisions 1 feet apart.

Caution :
The best time to divide and propagate foamflower is during Fall or Spring.

2. Seed

• The Tiarella seeds are collected from mature fruit foam flowers. They can be planted on the spot or can be planted during Spring. 
• The collection of seeds can start about one month later from the 1st flower bloom. They are small, black in color. And you can see a maturation in seeds from bottom to top in the stalk.
• Seeds are commercially available to purchase in your nearest gardening shop.

Commercially available Tiarella Cultivar types.

There are more than 20 cultivar types of Tiarella. These cultivar types have many different leaf foliage and flower combinations.  

1. Tiarella Cordifolia – this is the native wild variant,
2. Brandywine Foam Flower -(Tiarella Brandywine)- Has glossy foliage which turns bronze in winter,
3. Black Velvet Foam flower-(Tiarella Black Velvet)- has deep black color veins with lobed leaves and bluish-white flowers,
4. Tiarella Butterfly Wings – (Butterfly foam flowers) – the leaves have heavily dissected green color foliage with black color veins and light pink color flowers,
5. Tiarella cordifolia ‘George Shenk Pink’ – (George Shenk Pink Foam Flower) – Here, only the color of flower has changed to light-pink color.

As shown above, the rest of the variants also have unique attributes that differ from one another.

How to Maintain the Tiarella Cordifolia by cleaning, pruning, and pinching

• Before planting the Foamflower seedlings outdoors, keep them in indoor planting trays or bags for 8-10 weeks before the winter ends. This will help the plant to get stabilized roots spread throughout the tray.
• The seeds should be clean, sealed and stored in a refrigerator for germination. When you are sealing the planting medium make sure to add moist added organic soil to it. 
• Keeping the sealed pack in a cool environment will help the seeds to germinate within 30 days maximum.
• The germination of the Foamflower seeds is high. But the speed of growing a seedling is slow. 
• When you are planting on the beds, make sure to add some extra boost into planting holes to make sure the roots have enough nutrients to stabilize well.
• Try to farm 4-6 plants together when you are planting. This will help the flower bed to have a bushy look when they fully grow. 
• There might be some instances where Foamflower offsets might pop up. On those occasions, you can use Softwood cutting method to plant that offset on a new spot.
• The Tiarella Cordifolia can remain without dividing for a few years, but when necessary they should be divided within early Spring before flowering begins, or in late summer.
• Removing dead leaves and faded flower stems to maintain the beauty and space.

Problems that you may face while growing Foamflower.

• Insects and diseases rarely bother this plant.
• Deers and rabbits rarely bother this plant. But in extreme winter conditions they might tend to eat the leaves to fulfill their hunger.

Uses and Final thoughts about Tiarella Cordifolia

It is recommended to keep these plants at least 2 hours under sunlight per day and save moisture in the soil at all times to produce many blooms during the blooming period.

Uses of Foamflower,

• Used to beautify shaded gardens, woodland gardens, border fronts, wild gardens, moist areas along stream banks.
• foamflower plants are used as good ground cover to beautify shaded areas.  
• It’s a good replacement for some invasive plants like vinca or English Ivy.
• Can be used in mixed flower beds.

If you have a shady garden or a woodland garden or a garden where you receive partial shade, planting some Tiarella Cordifolia plants will increase the beauty in it. As it’s a perennial plant and requires low maintenance.