Heather for the weather
best for optimum flowering.
When planting heather, set deeply with lower foliage resting on ground, and about 2.5cm of stem under soil.
Informal drifts are best, and they look great on banks or mounded beds – but these should be south-facing.
For greater impact, group five of the same variety together. As they are quite compact, they are very suitable for containers and pots. Create miniature winter gardens in containers with heathers combined with winterflowering pansies, hellebores or cyclamen.
Because of their alpine origins, they also situate well in rockeries. Keep newly planted heathers moist during their first summer during periods of drought.
Maintenance is limited to annual pruning. Just lightly clip off the dead flowers and some stem, but not back into old wood as heathers will not regenerate if hacked back. I’d use garden shears for this job as individual pruning with secateurs would be very time-consuming. For winter heathers, this is best done when the flowers have gone brown, so around April. Don’t do it much later as you may be cutting off next year’s flower buds. A light feed in spring will help produce some fresh growth.
Propagation is by cuttings, seeds or layering. Layering is quite easy – just take an outside stem and dig a small trench beside the plant where you can press the stem into. Peg part of the stem down and cover with soil, but leave the tip of the plant exposed.
Over the next year, the buried part of the stem will form its own root system and the plant can be severed from the “mother” and planted elsewhere.
Winter heathers are usually cultivars of Erica carnea and Erica x darleyensis, but just check the label to make sure you’re buying one that suits your soil requirements.
Some choice varieties to look out for include ‘White Perfection’ with long spikes of pure white flowers, ‘Vivelli’ which has dark-bronzy foliage coupled with pinkish-purple flowers and ‘Foxhollow’ for its zingy yellow foliage and pretty pink flowers.
They’re not too fussy about soil... just as long as it isn’t waterlogged