Common name: Scotch Heather
Family: Ericaceae, Heath
Height x width: 4-24" x 1-2'
Growth rate: slow to moderate
Foliage: opposite, simple, evergreen resembling scales,closely packed giving square appearance to stem in cross section
Flowers: rosy to pink to white in late summer or early fall, urn-shaped in 1-10" long racemes
Hardiness: zones 4-6
Soil: well-drained, prefers sandy and below pH 6
Light: sun
Pests and Problems: root rots, Japanese beetle, mites, scales
Landscape habit, uses: rock gardens, ground cover, edging, massed in borders, bees
Other interest: flowers very attractive to bees with heather honey highly regarded; usually associated with moors of England and Scotland, native to Europe and Asia Minor; cultivated for many centuries; often described in woody plant references although typically grown in the north with perennials; from the Greek kallunein meaning to beautify, refering to its use of stems for sweeping; related closely to Erica, the spring blooming heath
Other culture: may be marginal in zone 4 especially without winter protection; cut back severely in spring; cover with boughs overwinter
Propagation: seed sown on moist peat moss, softwood cuttings with rooting hormone
Species:
vulgaris (vul-gare' iss)--only species of commerce and cultivars
Cultivars:
Of the over 1000 cultivars, the following are the most widely seen in
U.S. commerce and representative of the genus.
| Cultivar | flowers | foliage color, habit |
| 'Corbett's Red' | crimson | dark green, mounding |
| 'County Wicklow' | shell pink, double | green, mounding |
| 'Cuprea' | lavender | coppery yellow, upright |
| 'Elsie Frye' | white, double | light green, mounding |
| 'H.E. Beal' | dense pink, double | gray green, upright |
| 'J.H. Hamilton' | deep pink, double | dark green, spreading |
| 'Kinlochruel' | white, double | bright green, mounding |
| 'Martha Herman' | white | emerald green, compact |
| 'Mrs. Ronald Gray' | pale purple | dark green, spreading |
| 'Robert Chapman' | mauve | gold to red orange, spreading |
| 'Silver Knight' | lilac | silvery gray, upright |
| 'Spring Torch' | mauve | pink cream tips, upright |
| 'Tib' | deep pink, double | dark green, spreading |
| 'White Lawn' | white | bright green, prostrate |
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