Planting heathers and heaths

Heathers and heaths offer a tremendous range of foliage, flower colours, and blooming times. Where winters are not too severe, you can have them in flower almost year-round. Follow these steps to properly plant and care for heathers and heaths.

The importance of heathers and heaths has been recognized for centuries. As early as 1401 there were laws in Britain governing their burning. In the Scottish Highlands they were used for building materials, brooms and beds, and there were even recipes for heather ale. Heaths and heathers also provided grazing for sheep and deer.

Heather (Calluna), the superior grazing, was called "he heath," while the inferior Erica was known as "she heath." Even today, heathers have an economic use. Brier pipes are not made from rose briers, as you might suppose, but from the roots of a species of heath (E. arborea). The misnaming comes from a poor translation of bruyère, the French common name for this shrub.

Strictly speaking, heather is the common name for the genus Calluna, which has a single species, C. vulgaris. Heath is the name given to the genus Erica, which has many species, and to Daboecia. In practice, the two common names are often used indiscriminately.

No matter what you call them, their most important use today is as garden plants, and the many named forms available attest to their popularity. Most of these evergreen shrubs require acidic soil, while the more lime-tolerant winter-flowering heaths E. carnea, E. darleyensis, and E. erigena are the best choice if your garden is not acidic.

Heathers and heaths vary greatly in size from low, prostrate plants to those almost six metres (20 feet) tall — and some tender species from South Africa can get even larger. Foliage is also variable and ranges from a bright golden yellow through myriad shades of green to orange and dull reddish purple.

Some varieties remain a constant colour all year, while others change with the seasons. Tiny bell flowers range from white, through shades of pink and lilac, to red, crimson, and almost purple. Although attractive individually, it is the massed effect of hundreds of blooms clothing each branch that is responsible for the popularity of these plants.

Where summers are not too hot, heaths and heathers combine well with other acid-lovers such as rhododendrons, azaleas, pieris, and mountain laurel. Wherever they can be combined, use them to give floral interest when the other shrubs are finished blooming.

• Heathers and heaths are also used in beds on their own — with the occasional upright conifer to give height — where the tapestry effect of their foliage can be seen to best advantage.
• Plant them in groups of three to five of the same variety for best display.
• Pay careful attention to their blooming times, and foliage and flower colours, especially varieties that change through the seasons.

• Even if your basic soil is alkaline, you can still grow heaths and heathers.
• Because their root systems are relatively shallow, even a low raised bed filled with an acidic soil mix will provide good growing conditions.
• Top dressing with oak leaves or pine needles, and the occasional sprinkle of powdered sulfur, will keep the bed acidic.

Follow these basic steps to plant and grow healthy heaths and heathers.