Heather Plants 79p each.

The range of flower colours run from white through shades of pink to near red, and from pale mauve through lilac to deep purple. We grow a range of summer flowering, autumn flowering and winter/spring flowering varieties.

The range of flower colours run from white through shades of pink to near red, and from pale mauve through lilac to deep purple.

Some varieties have colourful foliage or foliage which has a different colour on new shoots (this changes as the shoot matures).

They also come in a range of heights. Natural effects are best achieved by using a mixture of heights, foliage colour, flower colour and flowering times.

Heathers can be planted in special heather beds or heather gardens, but they don't have to be. They can also be used in rockeries, wild gardens, containers, etc.

Most of the soil in our area is suitable for growing lime-hating heathers. However:

DO NOT USE limestone chippings.

DO NOT USE soil contaminated with cement or plaster droppings from recent building works.

DO NOT USE fertilisers with a high lime content (a calcium base may be present in granular or powdered fertilisers; this may not always be shown on the analysis). Liquid feeding is safer, use a tomato or flower fertiliser.

DO NOT USE ordinary potting compost or growbag compost when planting heathers in containers as these will have had lime added in manufacture (instead use special ericaceous compost).

DO NOT OVERFEED. Our clay-based soils are mineral-rich enough for heathers, they rarely need more than one or two feeds in the year.

Exposed, windswept hills and moors are the natural habitat of many heathers and this is why they do so well in this district.

PRUNING:

We suggest that to obtain the best results most of our heathers should be cut back as soon as the flowers have died.

Cut back just below the lowest, dead flower.

Always leave some green leaves on any stem you cut back.

Unpruned heathers will gradually get out of hand; even dwarf varieties will eventually develop open, straggly growth.

Please note:

The height given on each pot is the optimum size that a variety will grow before becoming leafless and woody at the base. It does not mean that you have to let them get to that height.