Tiarella cordifolia (Foam-Flower)

Recipient of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit and a former North Carolina Wildflower of the Year, foamflower is a genuine shade-garden workhorse whose airy spring blooms draw early-season bees, pollinating flies, moths, and butterflies before most other woodland wildflowers have even emerged.

Species Overview

Tiarella cordifolia, or foamflower, is a stoloniferous, clump-forming perennial native to woodlands and forests of eastern North America, growing about 1 foot tall and spreading 1 to 2 feet wide. Heart-shaped, lobed, semi-evergreen foliage is topped by starry, creamy-white flowers on airy racemes in mid to late spring, often tinged with pink.

Application

• Woodland groundcover and shade garden plantings - quickly forms dense colonies
• Early-season pollinator habitat - bees, flies, moths, and butterflies
• Erosion control on shaded slopes
• Rock garden, fairy garden, and mixed shade container plantings

Growing Conditions / Specification Data

• Light: Part Shade to Full Shade
• Soil/Moisture Tolerance: Cool, moist, humus-rich, well-drained soil
• Plant Type: Forb
• Mature Height: 1-2 ft.
• Fall Color: Red - semi-evergreen, reddish-bronze in cooler climates
• Bloom Color / Period: White, Pink; April-June
• Wetland Indicator Status: FAC (Facultative)
• Native Range: Northeast/Mid-Atlantic (full list)
• Hydrology: Mesic-Moist
• Root Depth: Shallow (Under 12 in.)
• Salinity Tolerance: Low
• Growth Rate: Rapid
• Drought Tolerance: Low
• Deer Resistance: Yes (Rarely Damaged)
• Flood Tolerance: Moderate - A moist woodland groundcover, not a true wetland obligate; tolerates periodically wet soil.
• Shade Tolerance: Tolerant
• Growth Habit: Spreading - stoloniferous
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-9
• Pollinator Value: Supports bees, supports butterflies, supports moths

Planting Guidance

• Recipient of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit; selected as the 1986 North Carolina Wildflower of the Year. Spreads rapidly by stolons to form dense colonies, making an excellent living-mulch groundcover; removal of flower spikes after bloom improves foliage appearance.