PerennialGroundcoverShade gardenDeer resistantPollinatorsNative

Foamflower

Tiarella cordifolia

A dainty native groundcover for shade, with neat, heart-shaped leaves and airy spikes of creamy white flowers in spring that draw pollinators, spreading slowly by runners into colonies. It's lovely edging a woodland path or under shrubs, and deer usually pass it by. It needs moist, rich soil and won't take drought.

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Foamflower: whole plant — Photo: Cbaile19, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mature size: 10 in × 1.5 ft; 0.3 × 0.4 m, tall × wide
Hardiness: Zones 3a–8b; USDA
Sun: Part sun to full shade
Water: Medium to moist
Blooms: Apr–Jun

Foamflower at its mature size

A mature Foamflower grows to about 10 in tall and 1.5 ft wide.

Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.

Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension.

Through the year

What Foamflower looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.

Winter · Dec–Mar

Leaves still green, with a reddish-bronze to maroon cast along the veins and edges; living leaves, not dead brown.

In flower · Apr–May

Foamy spikes of small white flowers above the leaves.

In leaf · Jun–Nov

Low mound of maple-like green leaves, no flowers.

Photos

Foamflower: flowers — Flowers · Barnes Dr Thomas G, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Foamflower: leaves — Leaves · Cbaile19, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Growing Foamflower

Grows well in: The Northeast, the Southeast, and the Midwest.
Growth rate: Slow
Good for: Groundcover, shade garden, deer resistant, and pollinators
Leaves: Dies back in winter
Native to: Eastern North America

Spacing

VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Foamflower, that’s about 1.5 ft apart, center to center.

Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.