By Lena Wegner
Writing this report on heather took me back to my childhood. I grew up in a house that was the last in a subdivision which abutted a large heather preserve in Northern Germany. My cousins and I roamed the low hills, the Scotch pine and birch stands, and the blueberry thickets all year long, but especially during the big - to me then seemingly endless - summer vacations.
The best time, of course, was August, when the whole world seemed to be blooming, from horizon to horizon. We would take Prince, my dog, and set out on adventures. There was a spring, where some farmer long ago had dug a small cellar. It was still partially covered, was moist inside, mysterious and great to hide in. There were different color sands and stones to collect and, near the trickle of water, some large flowered heather (Daboesia) grew. The Daboesia was protected and we felt very wicked when we picked a branch for the miniature gardens we made. We also looked for mushrooms; Steinpilze (Boletus edulis) were the best! They grew under pines and birch trees in fall, at the edge of the heath. We felt like heroes when we brought them home and they were our supper. We kept the spots secret!
One of my most wonderful memories concerns my tiny grandmother and the heather. For my August Birthday she would make a beautiful heather basket for me. She covered the inside bottom in moss and put a small present in it. I kept the baskets for a long time.
Field of Heather in Scotland. Photo Credit: Lena Wegner.
Botanical Name: Calluna vulgaris. The name calluna is derived from the Greek word “kallunein”, which means to sweep or cleanse, and refers either to the fact that calluna was used to make brooms or that it was used in medicine to “cleanse” the body.
Common Name: Scotch Heather or ling. Ling is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “lig”, meaning fire, referring to the use of heather as fuel.
Family: Ericaceae
Natural Range: Northern and Western Europe. Heather is a dominant plant in hilly moorlands and heathlands of the UK and Continental Europe.
Other Cultivars/Species: Calluna vulgaris is the sole species in genus calluna with over 500[1] cultivars; Close relatives are Erica and Daboesia.
Plant type: Small, evergreen, mat forming perennial shrub growing to two feet tall with an upright habit.
Leaves: Very small, fine, scale-like leaves, arranged in opposite pairs along the stem.
Flowers: Violet-pink, bell-shaped flowers in August/September, on narrow, erect racemes, with flowers having up to 8 deeply colored bracts. The corolla is completely enclosed by long, colored sepals. They are very attractive to bees.
Diseases/Pests: Heather is quite free of diseases and pests if it is grown in an environment it likes. Garden books will list several problems, but most seem caused by conditions in the garden. (e.g. Hot humid summers cause root rot and spider mite infestations. Heather beetles can cause extensive damage. Both adults and larvae feed on the plant. Lepodoptera larvae also feed on it.)
Cultivation: Heather likes an open site, ample moisture, full sun, and humus rich,[2] well-drained, acidic soil (acidity is a must!). It can handle some shade, but not much. It does not like hot, dry summers. Calluna is quite hardy.
Heathers, Calluna vulgaris, Erica and Dabosia, are latecomers to the garden. For a long time they were thought to be too common to be considered ornamental. A fashion change in gardening, away from the formal French style to the “New English Style”[3], brought about mainly by “Capability” Brown (1716-1783), advanced the use of heathers and conifers. According to some literature about 400 cultivars were available during the 19th century, compared to over 1,000 now. A virtual cultivar explosion took place during the 1950s when the Bressingham nurseryman Adrian Bloom (1906-2005), “invented” the island bed which allowed viewing plants from all sides. Using “drifts” of various heather cultivars, he created year around interest in those beds and they had the added advantage of not obstructing the view of other garden plantings.
In the wild Calluna vulgaris grows in the poorest of soils, but it needs an open location that is moist but well drained. It prefers sandy, acidic soil, but may tolerate other soils, as long as they are acidic. It tolerates exposed, windy sites. (The German name for heather, “Heide”, comes from the old Germanic word “haithio” meaning unknown, wild green land or woodlands, lands that were at best hunting grounds.)
In the garden the above conditions should be duplicated as far as possible. Heather should be pruned severely each spring before new growth emerges. Hand pruning of old flower stalks to 1/3 – 1/2 with shears is recommended.
Propagation: Propagation can be achieved via soft tip cuttings or layering.
History: After the last ice age, heather colonized the sandy, boulder-strewn areas left behind by the melting glaciers.[4] Moors with peat bogs were strewn among the hills. Heather still covers thousands of acres in Scotland, Northern England, Scandinavia,[5] and Northern Germany. The large heaths in Northern Germany differ from the others in that they have their origin later, in the middle ages, when the population which started with the first permanent settlements in 3,500 B.C., increased. Overgrazing and deforestation impoverished the marginal soil the glacier had left behind to the extent that only heather would grow there. As soon as soil is more fertile, Calluna looses out to other plants such as grasses.
Today heaths are often protected as nature preserves, because heather landscapes have been shrinking since the advent of synthetic fertilizers.
Uses: Heather is used as ornamental groundcover, edging of beds, in rock gardens and on embankments, as well as in island bed drift plantings mentioned above. When combined with winter blooming Ericas (Erica cinera = bell heath and Erica canera = winter heath), heathers provide a long blooming season. Calluna, used in combination with Erica, dwarf conifers and grasses, provides a beautiful, natural landscape.
Heather is, and has been from the time before written records, an important food source for wildlife. Heather likes pruning, and, in the wild, a special type of sheep (Heidschnucke = ovis ammon f. aries), deer, grouse and hare feed on it and so perform that service. Wildlife also eats the seedlings of birch and pine, which threaten heather.
Heather beer was brewed in the middle ages, before hops, and the Picts rather died than revealed their heather ale recipe to the conquering Irish. Man has used heather clods to build shelters, thatch roofs, bed down animals, make brooms, scrubbing brushes, tan leather, and produce a yellow dye to color yarns and cloth.
Medicinal uses included treatments for the common cold, arthritis, rheumatism, and urinary problems.
Heather honey is a sought-after treat today and is thought to be good for you.
White heather means good luck. Dried heather is used for decorations.
[1] The numbers given fluctuate from 400 to 1,100.
[2] I have a quarrel with this statement. Heather naturally grows in acidic soil of very low fertility and often resents kinder conditions.
[3] Improve on nature” was the slogan
[4] End moraine territory
[5] Heather is the national flower of Norway.