Calluna and Erica offer year round interest. During the winter, the foliage on many selections turns to bright colors. They are wonderful planted in mass, along with grasses, perennials or conifers. The flowers appear in different seasons, depending on the variety.
In general, the secret to happy heather is good drainage, regular summer moisture, and a light trim after flowering and before the new growth appears in spring. The time to prune can depend on your climate, so take local experience into account.
Calluna vulgaris ‘Winter Chocolate’ has soft lavender blooms from August through September. The fine textured foliage is green and orange in summer, turning to chocolate and reds in the winter. It is a ground cover shrub that forms a dense mat. Blue Heron Farm also grows ‘Kinlochruel’ (double white flowers), ‘Silver Knight; (soft rosy pink flowers), and ‘Spring Torch’ (lavender flowers). In Erica we grow ‘Springwood White’ and ‘Mediterranean Pink’.
My plant materials professor joked that he would have liked to have named his two daughters "Erica" and "Heather".
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- Mid-summer flowers
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- Late summer flowers
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