Heathers will help make garden a purple reign
Heathers will bring wonderful colour... even in bleak winter
When I undertake a brand new garden design, I like to include plants that will bring life to the garden year round. And one plant that ticks that box is heather, specifically the low-growing winter-flowering varieties.
Heathers are underestimated plants that shine through an otherwise bleak winter when most other plants are taking a well-earned rest.
It is a perennial plant with an extraordinary 30 to 40 year lifespan in the wild. Until the 19th century, heathers were associated with the most rugged and impoverished rural landscapes and heaths where they grew naturally. That negative image has thankfully been shed.
Like a lot of plants heather had a secret life. It was used in the past to dye wool yellow and to tan leather and as a flavouring used in the brewing of heather-beer during the Middle Ages before the use of hops.
In the garden, heathers provide a wonderful display with their foliage deepening and intensifying as the year progresses. They are incredibly versatile and look fantastic in pots and rockeries, as well as providing stunning ground cover. The heather family is so vast provides a plant in flower for every month of the year.
BEE-FRIENDLY Nowadays we understand gardens need to be nature friendly, in particular for pollinator bees which are drawn to blue, purple, violet and white flowers, all of which heathers produce. Bee-friendly flowers make urban areas more attractive places in which to live and work, so the more heather the better.
There can be negativity from gardeners around heather as some varieties need specific soil types. Many don’t – for example the
Erica carnea and Erica × darleyensis can manage almost any soil and are not fussy. Their low-growing habit means they are good at suppressing weeds and grow well on banks. They flower from January and only require trimming the old flower spikes every couple of years to keep them in shape.
NATURAL SURVIVOR They are tough plants not bothered by exposed sites or slugs which don’t find them to their taste because of their their spiky leaves. One of the best known varieties, Erica carnea ‘Springwood White’, will flower magnificently from December to April.
Erica × darleyensis is similar to Carnea, it flowers from late autumn until late spring, in many shades of red, pink, lilac and white. Erica × darleyensis can be vigorous, providing good ground cover, which will quickly smother any weeds.
ACID OR ALKALINE Admittedly because some varieties do require acid soils, while others need soil low in lime content – alkaline – it can take a bit of investigation to find out which variety to plant in your garden. If you are not sure whether your soil is acid, neutral, or alkaline, simple soil testing kits are available from garden centres. Look at your soil pH, which runs from 0 to 14, the lowest number being highly acidic, and the highest alkaline, and 7 being neutral.
For heathers that need acidic soil, ericaceous compost will correct soil’s pH balance. It does need to be dug in regularly each year to sustain the correct levels that these heathers require.
SUMMER COLOUR
Calluna vulgaris – also known as Scotch heather or ling – flowers from late summer until mid-autumn. The Latin name Calluna is derived from the Greek Kallyno meaning ‘to sweep’ and was used in times gone by to make brushes. Calluna vulgaris is a European classic, native to coastal areas and is one of Scotland’s most prolific plants. Its purple and pink flowers have a slightly weathered appearance, it is a natural survivor that can tolerate very little care once established. Heights range from around 60cm, down to cultivars that hug the ground – with all shapes and sizes in between. In terms of summer colour,
Erica cinerea – also known as bell heather – flowers from early summer to early autumn and probably has the brightest range of colours of all the summer-flowering heathers. It ranges in height from 45cm to around 20cm.
Erica cinerea requires an acid soil although it can be grown in containers or in beds by adding ericaceous compost. Its natural flower colour is purple but there are numerous varieties ranging from white through to pink and red.
The foliage colour is extremely striking and varies greatly with shades of green/bronze, golden, yellow/orange. Look for ‘Golden Drop’ or ‘Golden Hue’ which turn a deep orange during the winter.
A BIT OF HEIGHT
Erica erigena – also known as Irish heath – flowers in early spring, although some start in late winter and a few even put on a show in late autumn. It is the least hardy of the heathers but, even if it is knocked back in an exceptionally hard winter, it will usually recover. It fills the gap between the winter and spring flowering heathers and the summer flowering ones. It is also more upright than many other types of heather – very useful to give a bit of height to a plant bed. The flowers range from white, through pink, to mauve and salmon, with foliage in shades of green or yellow.
The not-so-well-known tree heathers are actually more of a shrub and underline how versatile heathers are. For example Erica
Arborea ‘Albert’s Gold’, the most popular of all the tree heathers, has wonderfully bright golden, soft evergreen foliage which provides colour throughout the year. Its scented white flowers appear in early spring.
It can achieve a height and spread of up to 2m x 80cm and likes a rich soil in a sunny site sheltered from cold winds – and it can manage alkaline soils. Trimming is best done lightly in late spring or early summer.
Finally heathers are best planted deeply in waves of 5 to 7 of each variety. For dramatic yellow leaf colour look for Erica carnea ‘Golden Starlet’ or ‘Foxhollow’.
Calluna vulgaris ‘Wickwar Flame’ has stunning golden-orange foliage and mauve flowers, while
Calluna vulgaris ‘Silver Queen’ is the best silver variety and Erica
carnea ‘R.B. Cooke’ is the deepest of the pink-flowering varieties.