‘Joseph Rock’

Purple flowers; VII-IX; foliage dark green. Dense upright growth. 25cm tall, 60cm spread.

Listed by Barncroft Nurseries (Longsdon, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England) by 1991.

Name derivation not known, but most unlikey to be named after the American plant collector.

‘Dunwood Sport’

Flowers rose pink (H7). Indistinguishable from ‘Next Best‘.

Sport on ‘C. G. Best‘; found at R. Warner’s Barncroft Nurseries (Longsdon, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England); introduced by Barncroft Nurseries by 1985.

Named after the lane in Longsdon, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, where Barncroft Nurseries are situated.

Because this is indistinguishable from ‘Next Best‘, the latter name has priority; see ICNCP (1995, Art. 2. 18).

‘Brick’

Cerise (H6) flowers, June-Oct, with dark green foliage. Compact habit. 20cm tall, 40cm spread.

Seedling; found by Don Richards in his garden (Rydal Mount, Eskdale, Cumbria, England) by 1973. Introduced by G. Yates (Far Sawrey, Ambleside, Cumbria) in 1980.

Name, brick, refers to the flower colour.

‘Alice’

Flowers red, large: I-IV; foliage dark green; habit bushy; 18in × 24in.

Named by David Wilson from cuttings given by Kurt Kramer

Erica erigena

Pink flowers (H8), corolla urn-shaped, 6mm, sepals the same colour, anthers very dark maroon; XII– ? III; dark green foliage; upright and compact; after 3 years, height about 30cm; spread 15cm but likely to get taller.

An early blooming clone, as yet not named, which starts to show colour in November and has mature flowers in December.

A good garden-worthy plant, wild-collected at Mulranny, County Mayo, by David Edge.

Donald Mackay passed away on 24th November 2018

Donald Mackay

1926 – 2018

The Society sadly announces the passing of Donald Mackay on 24th November 2018.

Donald Mackay joined the North American Heather Society (NAHS) in 1987.  By March of 1988, “Dr. Donald Mackay” was listed on the Heather News masthead as “Northeast Editor” and contributed an article to that issue.  Donald served as the northeast regional editor of Heather News in 1988 and 1989.  He served as acting editor of the periodical from 1990 through most of 1994 and as the society’s official editor from then until the end of 2002.  While he was editor, if not enough articles were submitted to fill an issue, Donald would write his own articles on a diverse assortment of topics having to do in any way, however small, with heathers.  During some years, he wrote more than 40 articles.

After passing along the editorial red pen in 2003, Donald Mackay continued to write articles for Heather News.  He was its most prolific and dependable author, submitting between two and six articles per year.  His last article was published in the November/December 2018 issue of Heather News Electronic.

Donald served as NAHS president from 1990 through 1992 and again in 1999 and 2000.  He also served for many years in various offices of its Northeast Heather Society (NEHS) chapter and was vice-president of NEHS at the time of his death.  He served as principal author of the NEHS publication A Regional Heather Growing Guide.

Soon after joining the NAHS, Donald became a member of The Heather Society (THS) and remained so until his passing. During that period, Donald corresponded regularly with members of the THS, attended at least two Conferences and contributed articles to the Yearbook of The Heather Society for no fewer than four editions.

Donald leaves a son and two daughters (his wife, Lottie, and a daughter pre-deceased him), nine grandchildren and his longtime companion, Elinor Cohen.  The Heather Society extends our sympathy to them.

Ella May T. Wulff