Winter heathers so easy to grow

to 60 centimetres depending on the cultivar. It is recommended as a good planting companion with E. carnea if you want to mass plant an area. Both of these heathers flower white through the pinks to red and both of these heathers are available with foliage variations from deep green through bronze to golds and yellows..

I prefer the whites and the dark reds as some of the pinks are a little insipid for my palate or palette for that matter. Buy your heathers in flower so you can see the exact colours, be aware that the reds and pinks will fade over the winter eventually becoming brown.

Erica carnea ‘Vivellii’ has deep carmine flowers and dark green foliage turning winter bronze. E. carnea ‘Foxhollow’ has pale pink flowers with summer foliage lime green becoming rich yellow gold in winter. E. carnea ‘Golden Starlet is white flowered with yellow foliage all year. The two cultivars ‘Springwood white’ and ‘Springwood Pink’ tend to be less compact than others and are more trailing but still make excellent groundcover.

Erica x darleyensis ‘Darley Dale’ is the original plant taking its name from the nursery where the hybrid occured. It has pink flowers and green foliage and is around 35 centimetres high. E. x darleyensis ‘Jack H. Brumage’ has deep pink flowers and golden yellow foliage and is 30 centremtres high. E x darleyensis ‘Arthur Johnson’ is one of the tallest at 60 centimetres with magenta flowers. E. x darleyensis ‘Silberschmelze’ [ Molten silver] and ‘ White Perfection’ are quite similar both white with dark green foliage.

Winter heathers can be lightly clipped with shears once the flowers have become brown. Don’t cut into the old wood as they will not reshoot from there. The aim is to remove the old flowering wood and no more. This would typically be done towards the end of March or begining of April and will encourage a compact plant and increase the flowering potential the following year.