❁ Heliotrope (H12) flowers, VII–IX; dark green foliage; loose spreading habit; height 30cm; sprerad 40cm.Very similar to ‘Tib‘.
Sport on a wild plant; found by Albert Wilson (Royal Oak, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) about 1959.
Named after the finder’s wife. Albert Wilson died in the late 1960s. (He was not related to the Wilsons of Sardis, British Columbia, Canada.)
Pale lavender (H3) flowers, IX–XI; light green foliage, with pink shoot-tips most of the year; height 16–20cm; spread 31–45cm. Easily damaged by windburn. Collected on Broadstone Moors, Dorset, by Mrs P. S. Patrick.
♤ Crimson buds, IX–XI; dark green foliage; height 21–25cm; spread 31–45cm. Sport from ‘Marleen‘ but more compact and with brighter buds. Found in the nursery of Venninx (Bratschaat, Belgium) and named after the wife of the finder.
Mauve (H2) flowers, VIII–IX; dark green foliage; very prostrate twiggy habit; height less than 10cm; spread 31–45cm. Grows absolutely prostrate and can be walked on.
Wild-collected; found in Devon, England, by Dr Ronald Gray (Hindhead, Surrey) in 1933, and introduced by Maxwell & Beale (Broadstone, Dorset) in 1936.
Named after the finder’s wife, Dr Violet Gray, who was a Vice-president of The Heather Society (1966-1983).
White flowers, VIII–IX, in long narrow tapering spikes; mid-green foliage; height 10–15cm; spread 46–60cm. One of the St Kilda collection (K55), named after a hill on Hirta.
White flowers, VIII–IX; bright green foliage with a characteristic curl to it; very dwarf and compact; height less than 10cm; spread 21–25cm.
Wild-collected; found on Mullardoch, a hill between Plockton and Strone, West Ross, Scotland, by Dr Murray (Edinburgh, Scotland) in 1967; introduced by Jack Drake (Inshriach Nursery, Aviemore, Inverness-shire, Scotland) by 1967.
Named after a hill in Wester Ross, Scotland.
Lilac-pink (H11) flowers, VIII–IX; dark green foliage; low upright habit; height 16–20cm; spread 46–60cm.
Wild-collected; found at Mullion, Cornwall, England, by Mr & Mrs D. F. Maxwell (Corfe Mullen, Dorset) while on their honeymoon in 1923, and introduced by Maxwell & Beale (Broadstone, Dorset) in 1928.
Named after the place on the Lizard, Cornwall, where it was found.
Mauve (H2) flowers, VIII–IX; foliage copper-coloured in summer with brilliant orange and red flecks for most of the year; height 10–15cm; spread 21–25cm. Liable to revert to plain green.
Found in the USA before 1961; introduced to Britain by The Crown Estate, Windsor Great Park, Berkshire, England, about 1961.
It was claimed that this cultivar was originally named ‘Prairie Fire’ in North America but when introduced commercially in England during the early 1960s the name ‘Multicolor’ was used. It is produced in very large numbers in the UK, and reverting to the original name would cause chaos. While multicolor exists as an epithet for a forma within Calluna vulgaris, that forma is very rarely encountered and the epithet is hardly ever used. Because we consider it desirable to maintain existing usage ‘Multicolor’ will be proposed for conservation.
Note: ‘Multicolor’ (‘Prairie Fire’) is not in any way connected to f. multicolor of Beijerinck.
White flowers, VII–IX, free flowering; bright green foliage; height 26–30cm; spread 46–60cm. Needs to be kept well pruned. Named after the wife of the finder.
❁ White flowers, VIII–X; dark green foliage; height 31–45cm; spread 46–60cm. Very showy but has a tendency to revert to ‘H. E. Beale‘ (pink flowers) from which it was a sport.
Sport on ‘H. E. Beale‘; found on 15 September 1974 during a visit by the Midland Group of The Heather Society, by Graham Cookes, in his garden, Little Froome (Drayton Lane, Fenny Drayton, Warwickshire, England).
Fantasy name.
