Large amethyst (H1) flowers; V-XI; mid-green foliage; tall; height 31-45cm; spread 75-100cm. Useful for tall ground cover; blossoms for a long period (May to November).
Introduced by Underwood’s Nursery at Hookstone Green, Surrey, England.
Named after the Underwoods’ nursery, and the flower colour.
Upright shrub to 1.5m or more tall; branches ascending. Leaves to 6mm long. Flowers in terminal umbels of 2–4; calyx composed of 4 free pink or green sepals; corolla white changing to pink (H8/H11), about 5mm long, urn-shaped; stamens 8, included; anthers with spurs; style-end emergent.
Blooms irregularly through the year, mainly in spring and early summer.
An artificial hybrid, created deliberately in the 1980s by Kurt Kramer (Edewecht, Germany) by cross-pollinating Erica arborea ‘Alpina’ and Erica baccans.
Only the original (unnamed) clone is understood to be in cultivation but it is not commercially available.
Amethyst flowers; VII-XI; dark green, glossy foliage; erect habit. A chance seedling found by S. Ketelaar during summer 1994 in a garden at Nieuwegein, Netherlands. So named because it is an “Irish” heath with glossy leaves.
Heliotrope (H12) flowers; VI-X; dark green foliage; broad spreading to erect habit becoming very tall. A chance seedling found by Jos Flecken in 1998 in his garden at Kerkrade, Netherlands; named after John Doveren, his son-in-law, who is married to Colette Flecken after whom Calluna vulgaris ‘Colette‘ was named. Registered on 1 October 2002 by J. Flecken.
Large pale lavender (H3) flowers; VII-XI; mid-green foliage; height 31-45cm; spread 61-75cm.
Introduced by G. Osmond, Archfield Nursery, Wickwar, Wooton under Edge, Gloucestershire, England, before 1969.
Pale shell-pink (H16) flowers; VII-IX; mid-green foliage; rather open habit; height 31-45cm; spread 31-45cm. Similar to ‘Donard Pink‘; a sport from ‘Harlequin‘.
Large pale mauve (H2) flowers; VIII-XI; light greyish green foliage; height 26-30cm; spread 31-45cm. An old selection well over 100 years old.
Small, tubular, dark beetroot (H9) flowers; V-IX; dark green foliage; neat bushy habit; height 26-30cm; spread 26-30cm. More of a curiosity than a garden-worthy plant.
Glowing deep cerise (H6) flowers; VI-X; mid-green foliage; height 31-45cm; spread 61-75cm. Tends to shed most of its leaves in winter when it can look rather drab.
Wild-collected; found by Mrs Hedi Praeger in Connemara, Co. Galway, Ireland in 1938; propagated at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin whence it was distributed after 1941 (under various names e.g. Dr Praeger, Praeger’s Var.) to Irish nurseries.
Named after Mrs Hedi Praeger, wife of Dr Robert Ll. Praeger (who was commemorated in Erica x praegeri [now E. x stuartii])..
Long racemes of bright purple (H10) flowers; VI-X; dark green foliage; height 31-45cm; spread 61-75cm. Similar to ‘Atropurpurea’.
Probably based on Menziesia polifolia var. purpurea, listed by James Booth & Son (Flottbeck Nursery), Hamburg as early as 1830 (see Loudon 1838).
Named from purpureus = purple.
