THE HEATHS
Few groups of small flowering shrubs are so charming in the garden as
the hardy Heaths. Their usually neat growth, profusion of flowers, and
length of time they are in beauty--sometimes three or four months--make
them of great garden value. Not more than twelve species can be grown in
the open air, but, with one or two exceptions, all are beautiful, as the
following complete list suggests: _Erica arborea_, _E. australis_, _E.
carnea_, _E. ciliaris_, _E. cinerea_, _E. lusitanica_ (or _codonodes_),
_E. Mackaii_, _E. mediterranea_, _E. multiflora_, _E. scoparia_, _E.
stricta_, _E. Tetralix_, and _E. vagans_.
When the whole group is grown, one or more species may be had in flower
every month in the year, except, perhaps, November. A hybrid between _E.
mediterranea_ and _E. carnea_ (sold under the name of _mediterranea
hybrida_) has been seen much of late, and is a very welcome little
shrub, flowers appearing in some years even in November. Every year some
expand before Christmas, and during January it is the brightest plant in
the outdoor garden. _E. carnea_ and the white variety follow it; then in
a cluster come _E. australis_, _E. arborea_, _E. lusitanica_
(_codonodes_), _E. mediterranea_ and its several varieties, which fill
up the months from March to May, and from June onwards we have _E.
cinerea_, _E. ciliaris_, _E. Mackaii_, _E. scoparia_ (the least worthy
of the Heaths), _E. stricta_, and _E. Tetralix_. The two allied species,
_E. vagans_ and _E. multiflora_, carry on the Heath season until
October.
The Heaths are happiest in a peaty soil. The great Heath nurseries are
all on soil of that nature, but it is not essential. A loamy medium can,
by adding leaf-mould and, if necessary, sand, be made to suit all the
Heaths, and some, such as _E. cinerea_ and _E. mediterranea_, are quite
at home on a calcareous soil. Choose positions for them well exposed to
the sun, with, if possible, a cool, moist bottom. The ways of planting
vary, of course, according to the character of the species and varieties
selected. The rather free-growing and taller Heaths, like _lusitanica_
and _arborea_, may be planted in informal groups on sloping banks, or
more sparsely with a dwarfer species like _E. carnea_ as the groundwork.
_E. lusitanica_ and _E. arborea_, being somewhat tender, are only seen
at their best in the south and west, but beautiful effects have been got
by planting them in irregular and scattered groups on grassy slopes. The
natural grouping of Gorse and Broom suggests a way of using the many
beautiful Heaths.
_E. mediterranea_ and its varieties, a beautiful group, and much hardier
than the two species just mentioned, have flowers of shades of purple
and white. Delightful effects are possible when they are planted in
bold, informal groups, especially on sloping banks or ground, their
flowers appearing over a period of ten or twelve weeks. Dwarf Heaths,
like _E. carnea_, _c. alba_, _cinerea_, &c., may be used as edgings to
beds of heathy plants. I am indebted to Mr. Bean for the following
excellent notes about the Heaths, and the reason this group has a
chapter to itself is to encourage a greater use of shrubs, strangely
neglected in English gardens. The beauty of Heath in bloom appeals to
poet and painter. Moorlands surfaced with colour, hill upon hill of
softened shades fading away in the distance, are pleasant
memories--pictures beautiful enough, we should have thought, to tempt
the planter of the English garden to reproduce in a small way in the
homelands. I hope this chapter will do something to make the beautiful
wild Heaths and their varieties welcome in rough, peaty grounds and
banks, and the many other places where they would be as happy as on
their native moors and hillsides.
THE TALLER OR TREE-LIKE HEATHS
_Erica arborea._--This is the most remarkable of all the hardy Heaths;
it grows to quite a small tree. In the Isle of Wight, and doubtless
elsewhere, it has been known to grow 30 feet high, with a trunk 39
inches in circumference. It is found wild in considerable abundance
along the Mediterranean coast region between Genoa and Marseilles, the
wood being used in the manufacture of the so-called Briar pipes, Briar
being a corruption of the French word Bruyere. All the Heaths flower
with great freedom but none more so than _E. arborea_ and its near
ally, _E. lusitanica_. The flowers are almost globular and nearly white;
they are quite small individually, but produced so abundantly that the
plants are smothered with them from March to May. My experience of this
species is that it is hardier and thrives altogether better in the
London district than _E. lusitanica_, a species for which it is often
grown. It ripens seed every year almost, and can thus be readily
increased in a natural way. The young wood is densely covered with short
dark hairs and the leaves are closely packed in whorls of three.
_E. lusitanica_ (syn. _codonodes_).--Many will not recognise the name
_lusitanica_ as applied to the well-known _E. codonodes_, but
_lusitanica_ is really an older designation. This Heath, as its name
implies, comes from Portugal; it is also a native of Spain, and is often
confounded with _E. arborea_. Briefly, they differ in the following
respects: The flowers of _E. lusitanica_ are longer and more bell-shaped
than the globular ones of _E. arborea_; the foliage of _E. lusitanica_
is a rather pale green, and has a rather more plumose look, the
individual leaf being longer and more slender; the young wood, although
downy, is not so hairy as in _E. arborea_. The remarkable abundance of
flowers, a feature of _E. arborea_, is quite as apparent in this
species, their colouring is a faintly pink-tinged white. From Messrs. R.
Veitch and Sons, of Exeter, who are taking a special interest in these
tree Heaths Kew has lately received a form intermediate between _E.
arborea_ and _E. lusitanica_--probably it is a hybrid. _E. lusitanica_
does not apparently grow so large as _E. arborea_, but it is recorded to
have reached 12 feet in height in Sussex. Farther west, in Dorsetshire,
it grows luxuriantly, and is certainly one of the loveliest of
evergreens that can be grown even in that favoured county. Seeds afford
the best means of propagation.
_E. australis._--One of the most beautiful and rare of all the Heaths,
but unfortunately it is not so hardy as the majority. In the southern
and western counties, however, it will thrive admirably, withstanding 20
degrees of frost without serious injury, provided the winter is not
unusually protracted. It is curious that in spite of its beauty it is
little known even in Cornwall, Devon, and similar localities, where it
would doubtless thrive to perfection. It has been grown at Kew for the
last six years, and although the winters during that period have not
been very severe, it has stood out all the time, and it flowers
regularly and profusely every spring. It can be increased by cuttings
put in at the end of July or the beginning of August. _E. australis_ is
a native of Spain and Portugal; it flowers in April and May, and lasts
eight weeks in beauty. The flowers are rich, bright, rosy red, brighter,
indeed, than those of any other Heath; they are fragrant,
pitcher-shaped, and about a quarter-inch long. The species has been
confounded with _E. mediterranea_, which often does duty for it, but it
is distinguished by having the flowers produced generally four or eight
together in terminal clusters. (Those of _E. mediterranea_ appear in the
leaf axils.) Those who have gardens in well-sheltered or mild
localities should grow this beautiful Heath. The difficulty at present
is to get hold of the right thing; I am glad to know, however, that some
trade firms are taking it up. It is said to grow 6 to 8 feet high, but I
have not seen plants half as high.
[Illustration: _ONE OF THE BEST OF ALL HEATHS (Erica carnea)._]
_E. mediterranea._--Of all the taller Heaths this is the one, I think,
that deserves to be most freely planted in districts no warmer than the
London one. The three preceding species, so beautiful when seen at their
best, are more comfortable in the southern and western counties. Of
sturdier constitution, _E. mediterranea_ may be planted in large
quantities with a view to producing broad effects. At Kew a group 70
feet across, planted three or four years ago, already makes a striking
mass of purple each spring. The habit of remaining for a long time in
full beauty, which is so marked a characteristic of the Heaths, is
possessed to the full extent by this species. It is beautiful from March
to May, and is all the more appreciated because the majority of the
trees and shrubs that bloom at this season have yellow, pink, or white
flowers. In the typical _E. mediterranea_ the flowers are bright rosy
red, but there is a charming white-flowered variety (_alba_), another
with bluish foliage (_glauca_), and a dwarf one (_nana_). The flowers
appear near the ends of the shoots in the axils of the leaves, and are
pitcher-shaped. The name _mediterranea_ is misleading, for according to
Moggridge, the Mediterranean botanist, it is not a native of that
region at all; it is rather of Biscayan origin, and is found in Western
France and Spain.
On the boggy heaths of Galway and Mayo a form of this species is found;
it is known as _E. mediterranea var. hibernica_, and grows 2 to 5 feet
high. The typical _E. mediterranea_ was represented in the Syon gardens
seventy years ago by a specimen 10 feet high. Do any such noble examples
remain in this country now? _E. mediterranea hybrida_ has been already
alluded to.
_E. stricta._--Although not so strikingly beautiful as the Heaths
previously mentioned, _E. stricta_ is the hardiest of all the taller
species. In inclement districts, where a tall Heath is desired, it may
be recommended; it grows from 5 to 6 feet high, and is of erect and
sturdy growth, with leaves borne in whorls four to six together; they
are deep green, and a large mass of plants with their erect plumose
branches produces a somewhat unusual effect. _E. stricta_, like so many
Heaths, has a long flowering season; it begins to bloom in June, is at
its best in July, but three months later flowers may still be gathered.
The flowers are pale purple, and produced in terminal clusters. It has
been in cultivation since 1765, and is a native of South-Western Europe;
it is occasionally labelled _E. ramulosa_.
[Illustration: _A GROUPING OF HEATHS (Erica mediterranea and vars. alba
and hybrida)._]
_E. scoparia._--This species has proved to be the tallest Heath near
London, for it has during the last few years grown as high as 9 feet.
This gives it a certain distinction, but when regarded as a
flower-bearing plant it is, I think, the least worthy of the tribe.
The flowers are crowded in the leaf axils in great profusion, but are
small and greenish white; the growth of the plant is somewhat straggling
and uneven, but it has one merit--viz., it is quite hardy. I have seen
its stems split by hard frost on more than one occasion during the last
twelve years, but no permanent injury has resulted. It flowers in June,
and is a native of the mountainous country to the north of the
Mediterranean, especially about Mentone.
THE DWARFER HEATHS
The dwarf Heaths can be used quite differently from the more tree-like
species that have just been described: as a carpeting beneath
sparsely-planted shrubs, for furnishing sloping banks, or for growing on
the small terraces of the Rock Garden they are equally useful. And of
all these dwarf Heaths more can be said in favour of _E. carnea_ than of
any other species. It is not only absolutely hardy, but it flowers with
astonishing freedom at a time of year when flowers are particularly
cherished. Its flowering, of course, somewhat depends upon the weather,
but frequently one may see its bright rosy bells almost as soon as
January comes in. By the end of February the entire plant is a mass of
beautiful colour, and for two or three months longer they retain their
freshness no matter what weather may occur. So free-flowering is this
Heath that its flowers literally cover it. _E. carnea_ is one of those
plants (and there are many of them) which, although perfectly well
known and quite common, are still not used in gardens so freely as they
ought to be. The majority of our early-flowering plants bear flowers
that are either white or yellow, so that the rosy-red colouring of this
Erica makes a welcome change. However freely it might be planted it
would never become wearisome or out of place, for its tints, though
bright and warm, are not harsh. Statements have been recently published
to the effect that _E. carnea_ is a British plant. This idea appears to
have originated with Bentham, the botanist, who regarded _E. carnea_ and
_E. mediterranea_ as the same species. Following out this idea, he
included the plant which has already been alluded to as a form of _E.
mediterranea_, which is found in Western Ireland, in his Flora of
Britain as a form of _E. carnea_. Possibly he was right from the
standpoint of the botanist, but the plant grown in gardens and nurseries
as _E. carnea_ is quite distinct from _E. mediterranea_. It is usually
not more than 6 to 8 inches high, and is a native of the mountains of
Central Europe.
[Illustration: _WHITE SCOTCH HEATHER (Erica cinerea alba)._]
_E. cinerea_ (Scotch Heather).--Over almost the whole of these islands,
from the Highlands of Scotland to the moors of Devon and Cornwall, this
Heath occurs more or less abundantly. During the late summer and early
autumn--it flowers from July onwards--it covers miles of Exmoor with
bright-purple colouring, being usually associated with one of the dwarf
autumn-flowering Gorses (_Ulex Gallii_). In gardens it has produced
several forms, the two most brilliantly coloured being
_atrosanguinea_ and _atropurpurea_, but all the forms of this Heath
are beautiful in colour, ranging from white to crimson. _E. carnea_
loves the cool pure mountain air, and on hot and sandy soil in the
Thames Valley is short-lived. At the same time it thrives admirably in
gardens where a moist, cool bottom can be provided and where the air is
pure. Altogether it makes an admirable succession to _E. carnea_.
_E. ciliaris_ (Dorset Heath).--Although in smoky and foggy places, such
as London, this Heath is not always satisfactory, in the purer air of
the surrounding counties it is a delightful shrub. In some of the old
oak-bearing country, in Sussex, for instance, it succeeds to perfection.
It is a native of Britain, but is, I believe, confined to Cornwall and
Dorset in England, and to Galway in Ireland. It has long, slender,
prostrate stems, from which spring erect flower-bearing branches; the
rich rose-purple flowers are borne in a long raceme, and they are the
largest individually of those of all the native Heaths. The leaves are
nearly always in threes, and, like all the younger parts of the plant,
are covered with hairs and pubescence; it flowers from July onwards.
[Illustration: _WHITE MEDITERRANEAN HEATH (Erica mediterranea alba)._]
_E. maweana._--This appears to be a fine variety of _E. ciliaris_, with
larger leaves and flowers, even richer in colour and of sturdier growth.
It was discovered in Portugal some thirty years or so ago by Mr. George
Maw, but has not become popular notwithstanding its beauty. It was
obtained for the Kew collection from Messrs. Cunningham and Fraser, of
Edinburgh, three or four years ago, and certainly promises to be a
better grower there than _E. ciliaris_. The flowers are rich crimson and
in large racemes.
_E. Watsoni._--This is a supposed natural hybrid between _E. ciliaris_
and _E. Tetralix_, and was first discovered near Truro by Mr. H. C.
Watson. It has rosy-crimson flowers produced in a flatter raceme than
that of _E. ciliaris_. In this character and in other ways it is
intermediate between the parents.
_E. Tetralix_ (the Cross-leaved Heath or Bell Heather).--This beautiful
Heath grows on most of the moors and mountain-sides throughout the
British Isles, being perhaps the most widely spread of all the true
Ericas in this country. It is called the "Cross-leaved Heath" because of
the arrangement of the leaves, which are in whorls of four. It is not
very distinct in general appearance from _E. ciliaris_, being downy and
hairy on its young slender leaves, &c. It differs, however, in the
arrangement of the flowers, which are in a terminal umbel. The leaves of
_E. ciliaris_ are usually in threes at each node, and, of course, its
distribution in Britain is much more restricted than that of _E.
Tetralix_. There are other minor points of difference that need not be
referred to here. The "Cross-leaved Heath" grows 1 to 1-1/2 feet high,
and has bright rose-coloured flowers. There is a white-flowered variety
(_alba_), and a very pubescent one named _mollis_.
_E. Mackaii._--This is so closely allied to _E. Tetralix_ that it is
regarded merely as a variety by some authorities. It was first found in
Galway in Ireland, between Roundstone Bay and Clifden. It has since
proved to be a native also of Spain. It is a charming garden plant
flowering from July to September. The leaves have the same right-angled
arrangement as those of _E. Tetralix_, but the flower is shorter,
broader, and of a paler rose.
_E. vagans_ (Cornish Heath).--This Heath is one of the most useful of
dwarf evergreens, growing vigorously, especially when planted in good
soil. I think, however, it flowers better and has more of the typical
Heath character when in somewhat poor, sandy soil. In England it is
almost or quite confined to Cornwall, but occurs also in Ireland and
South-West Europe. It is especially valuable in the garden because it
flowers late, beginning in July and keeping on until October. Its
flowers are crowded in racemes 4 to 6 inches long, and they are pinkish
purple in colour. The plants may be kept neater and more compact by
removing the flowering portion of the shoots before growth recommences
in the following spring. Left to themselves, especially in soil that is
at all rich, the plants are apt to get straggling and unkempt.
_E. multiflora._--This belongs to the same type of Heath as _E. vagans_,
the Cornish Heath, but differs in its more compact growth and shorter
racemes of flowers. Although not so vigorous and showy, it may still be
preferred for some situations. It is a neater plant, and its lower
branches have not the same tendency to get sprawling and ungainly as _E.
vagans_. In other respects it is much like that species, the leaves
being of similar shape and arrangement, and the flowers of a paler
purple; the raceme, however, is only 2 inches or so long. _E.
multiflora_ is not found in Britain, but is a native of the country to
the north of the Mediterranean Sea from France to Greece.
_Calluna vulgaris._--This has been named Erica (Heath), and may be
appropriately included in this chapter on Heaths. It is the Common Heath
of mountain and moor, is very closely allied to the true Heaths, and has
given rise to many varieties. It likes a peaty or sandy soil, and is
longer-lived and more profuse flowering under cultivation in poor rather
than rich soil. It is very charming when grown in natural masses in the
wilder parts of the garden, and its value is all the greater because it
flowers when almost all other shrubs are out of bloom, viz., from July
to October. Numerous varieties are offered by the trade, amongst which
the following are the most noteworthy, either for their beauty or for
their distinctness: _Alba_ (white), _Alporti_ (crimson), _aurea_ (golden
leaved), _tenuis_ (red), _pygmaea_, and _hypnoides_ (both dwarf).
_Daboecia polifolia_ (St. Dabeoc's Heath) is a lovely little shrub, a
close relative of the Heaths, and found wild in the west of Ireland. It
grows a little over 1 foot high, and bears bell-shaped flowers rather
abundantly on erect terminal spikes. They are purple or white, and
sometimes have both colours in one flower, and the plants continue to
produce them from July or August till the frosts come. It is quite as
plentiful as the dwarf Heaths. _Alba_ is a white variety. _Menziesia
polifolia_ is its former name, and is still found under that title in
books.
The three most suitable Heaths for limestone are _Erica carnea_,
_vagans_, and _mediterranea_.