Caramel is a coral bells grown for its foliage, which holds a warm amber-caramel tone through spring, summer, and winter, with thin stems of small flowers as a secondary show as a bonus. It forms a neat, compact mound, and the leaves do most of the work in the border.

Give it part shade here, since our afternoon sun scorches the brighter leaf colors. Drainage is the whole game in Birmingham clay, because crown rot in wet ground kills more of these than cold does. Set the crown at soil level, never buried, and it works well at the front of a shady bed or along a path.