Heather of the Month

Flowers in terminal umbels; calyx with 4 free sepals; corolla 6–7mm long, urn-shaped, lilac-pink (H11); stamens 8, included; anthers with 2straight spurs; nectar produced; style-end capitate, about 4mm diameter, exserted: July – September, faded flowers russet in winter; mid-green foliage with leaves in whorls of 4, to 9mm; open habit which can be vastly improved by pruning in the early years; height to at least 1m; spread 75–100cm.

Native in south-eastern Spain, Corsica, Italy including Sardinia and Morocco, and long-naturalized in Northern Ireland. This lime-tolerant species is surprisingly hardy and is suitable for zone 5. The faded bells provide an attractive russet hue all winter.

Image courtesy of David Plumridge.

Golden leaves, turning greenish yellow in late summer, autumn and winter; some plants produce normal green branchlets. Hardy in the north of the Netherlands. Sport on ‘Red Imp‘, flowering about 2 weeks later; found in Boomkwekerijen Bosch (Westerlee, Groningen, Netherlands) in 1993; named and introduced in 1999. Ericultura 115: 6 (1999).

Daboecia x scotica is a hybrid, of garden origin, having the compactness of Daboecia azorica and the hardiness of Daboecia cantabrica. The leaves are glossy, smaller than those of Daboecia cantabrica. It is ideal for ground cover in the small garden, flowering profusely between June and November. It is suitable for hardiness zone 6.

Hardy in northern England (plant in the photograph is growing at Consett, in County Durham at 225m above sea level) and in such places as the north of the Netherlands.

Propagation by cuttings only. See heather propagation

Hardier than some other clones. Collected in Serra da Estrela near Coimbra, Portugal, in 1972 by R. Zwijnenburg and introduced first in the Netherlands.

Simailar to Erica arborea ‘Albert’s Gold‘, which featured earlier in the month, but with more profuse flowers. ‘Albert’s Gold‘ has more yellow leaves.

A sport from Erica arborea ‘Alpina’ propagated by Albert Turner in 1971(Birmingham, UK).

Erica x veitchii : Veitch’s heath are a hybrid between tree heath (Erica arborea) and Portuguese heath (Erica lusitanica), represented in cultivation by at least five cultivars which vary in hardiness from zone 7 to zone 8. Veitch’s heath can be grown in most alkaline soils.

Shoots hirsute with both simple and plumose hairs intermixed; leaves linear, to 6mm long; flowers white, in terminal whorls of 3 or 4; calyx 4-lobed, green, cup-shaped, waxy, thicker in texture than corolla; corolla tubular-campanulate, to 4mm long; stamens 8, included or tips just visible at base of corolla lobes; filament with spicules on lower quarter; anthers with spurs.

Darley Dale heath.

Evergreen, low-growing shrub with dark green foliage throughout the year. Flowers rose-pink. Habit compact, after 3 years to 15cm tall, 25cm across.

Flowering period October-January in southern England, to April in southern Sweden.

Photograph © Sten-Bõrje Sõrensson

This was a chance seedling spotted in Forest Edge Nurseries, Wimborne, Dorset, in 2003. The finder, David Edge, believes it is the progeny of cross-pollination between Erica carnea ‘Treasure Trove’ (mountain heath) and Erica erigena ‘Irish Dusk’ (Irish heath) (the latter is one of The Heather Society’s recommended cultivars ….see).

Similar cultivars of Erica x darleyensis are named ‘Irish Treasure’ and ‘Winter Treasure’, both of Canadian origin, raised by David Wilson. These also are compact plants that can bloom throughout the winter and early spring – see “Philomath Frolickings” by Ella May Wulff in Bulletin of The Heathe Society 8 no 4 (Spring 2015), pp 8-9.

registered name E.2005.01

Evergreen shrub attaining 1-4.5m in height; young shoots hirsute with simple, smooth hairs. Leaves in whorls of 4 (sometimes in 3s), linear to 7-0.5mm, light to dark green. Inflorescences usually numerous and crowded towards ends of shoots, appearing to form elongated panicles: 1-4 flowers in each terminal umbel at tip of short, leafy lateral shoots. Corolla white, often tinged pink in bud, narrow-campanulate to tubular-obconical, c. 5mm long. Stamens 8; filaments white, with microscopic hairs at base extending about a third the way up on sides and surfaces. Flowering in winter and spring (sometime from late autumn).

Often confused with Erica arborea (tree heath), this species can be distinguished clearly by two characters, both easily detectable using a good hand-lens: there are no branched hairs on the stems, but there are hairs, tiny, simple ones, on the lower portions of filaments of the stamens.

Erica lusitanica is native on the Iberian Peninsula ranging into south-western France.

Pale pink (lilac (H4) deepening to shell-pink (H16)) flowers; mid-green foliage; tall, erect habit.

A wild plant discovered at Lettergesh, County Galway, Ireland, and propagated by Susie and Alan Kay. Like all Calluna it requires lime-free acid soil.

Blooms from June to September with fragrant, “single” white flowers; anthers tan and style-end pink-tinged; flowering on principal shoots and then on axillary shoots. Foliage fresh green, hairless. Spreading plant; after 3 years to 30cm wide; to 15cm tall

Registered no. C.2010:06.
Registered by Susie Kay; 7 September 2010.
Name published in Heathers 8: 71 (2011).