THE HEATHER SOCIETY

Registered charity No 261407

Affiliated societies
Nederlandse Heidevereniging ‘Ericultura’
Gesellschaft der Heidefreunde
North American Heather Society
HERE: Heather Enthusiasts of the Redwood Empire
Vancouver Island Heather Society

President
Mr D. J. Small
Vice-Presidents
Mrs D. Everett Mr A. Hall Mrs A. Knight
Mrs P. B. Lee Mr M. Abreu Mr J. Schr6éder

COUNCIL 2007-2008

Chairman

Mr A. J. Stow
Honorary Secretary Honorary Treasurer
Mrs J. Julian Mr P. L. Joyner
Mr R. Canovan Mr A. R. Collins
Mr D. Edge Mr J. Fitz-Earle
Mrs S. Kay Mr D. E. Millis
Dr B. E. Roberts Mr B. Sellers

© The authors & The Heather Society

The Heather Society and the editors take no responsibility for the views expressed by
authors in papers and notes published in Heathers (Yearbook of The Heather Society).

FRONT COVER: Frank Odie's garden at Cluness Cottage, Burravoe, Shetland
Isles; photograph by Helen Harrison © (2007).

Heathers o \e o “f

Yearbook of The Heather Society
2008

third series

Editor
Dr E. Charles Nelson

Assistant Editor
B. Sellers
ISSN 0440-5757

The Heather Society
c/o Tippitiwitchet Cottage, Hall Road, Outwell, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE14 8PE

il

FRONTISPIECE: The engraving of Klokkelyng is reproduced by permission of
Hendrieke Berg (see page 53).

Heathers 5: 1-8 (2008). © F. Odie
Yell for heathers

FRANK ODIE
Cluness Cottage, Burravoe, YELL, Shetland Isles, Scotland, ZE2 9AY.

Taking off from where I sit, a crow would only have to flap its wings for
another 25 miles before it landed on the Mukkle Flugga lighthouse — the
most northerly structure in the British Isles. If it flew east for 180 miles it
would alight in Bergen or, if it preferred a granite perch, the same distance
south and it would be spoilt for choice on the rooftops of Aberdeen. There it
could view a profusion of gardens effortlessly (or so it seems) growing just
about any plant you care to name — from the smallest of heathers, through
literally millions of roses, to stately trees. While it isn’t impossible to grow
these in Shetland, it’s a great deal harder — and, if you want a 30ft apple or
cherry tree, you could try designing a 40ft-high glasshouse that would
withstand the rigours of the highest wind-regime in the country, plant a
sapling, and wait ...

That’s not to say there aren’t certain advantages being this far north and
in the path of the Gulf Stream — the absence of serious ground-frost in the
winter and a summer that has weeks of almost 24-hour daylight being the
two most obvious — but most people would feel that this is more than offset
by the salt-laden, wind-driven air and the unpredictability of the weather.

The island I live on is for the most part blanketed with a deep cover of
peat, with the occasional rocky outcrop. Peat has been cut as fuel for centuries
but over the last two decades or thereby its use has dropped significantly —
and to see people cutting and curing peat in the traditional way is now rare.
Old, worked-out areas, where most of the surface peat has been removed,
give rise in places to the remaining peat layer drying into a granulated form
which can be readily scraped off and used as a mulch. Given that it is often
a dense black and is, of course, highly acidic, it not only contrasts starkly
with any plants but can effectively deter wind-dispersed weeds — in short
the ideal mulch for heathers, and free for the taking.

My site is rather more than an acre — an acre of almost completely exposed
ground that is, so shelter was the first priority. This has been achieved by
building wooden fences. You can’t play about when the finished article has
to cope with the odd gale in excess of 100mph, and consequently I have four
quite substantial fences — the tallest of which, protecting a few specimen
trees and the heather bed planted in 1995, is 10ft high with 12ft posts sunk

Ds

into 4ft-deep holes each filled with around a ton of concrete. Parallel to the
trees, and providing a second tier of shelter, a hedge of Fuchsia was planted,
and the heather bed formed on an old peat stack site immediately in front.
The site — some 55ft long — was rotovated with the addition of some earth,
mounded in profile and semi-circular ends formed — roughly 10ft across at
one end and 10 inches at the other. The shelter-fence and trees followed a
year later.

A visit to a heather-grower in Angus resulted in visual overload, and me
asking him to pick out a selection of heathers that would provide year-round
colour. The heathers duly arrived, and the 30 varieties (totalling 230 plants)
were planted over the course of a week. Before the onset of winter, fencing
posts were driven in to the bed at each end and in the middle, rope strung
over these and then covered witha “tent” of salmon smolt netting, the plants
underneath having been loosely draped with fleece. The next spring,
following this mollycoddling (which they never had again), the survival rate
was 92.7%. From then on there emerged a pattern which seems, to say the
least of it, peculiar. A group of, say, six plants of one variety sitting between
two other groups would thrive for perhaps two or three years then all die
out; the plants adjacent would all continue to thrive for at least another year.
And this happened with frustrating regularity. On the odd occasion perhaps
one or two would still be surviving — but sickly-looking. Applying chellated
iron had no effect. The only solution I found was to keep on replacing
varieties, and looking now at the original planting plan I see that only 16 of
the original 30 heathers (representing all three genera) survive today. By far
the poorest performing genus was Calluna vulgaris.

In a never-repeated feat of orderliness, I did a review of the situation in
the autumn of 1998. Looking at that now I can see that of the 13 varieties of
Calluna originally planted only two remain. Not only that but nine other
varieties of Calluna were planted as replacements over time — and of these
only one remains.

The original Calluna varieties planted were ‘Beoley Gold’, ‘Crimson Glory’,
‘Flamingo’, ‘Fred J. Chapple’, ‘Glenfiddich’, ‘Inshriach Bronze’, ‘Iris van
Leyen’,’Jan Dekker’,‘John F. Letts’,/Kirby White’, ‘Mair’s Variety’,
‘Mousehole’, ‘Sir John Charrington’, ‘Spitfire’, ‘Spring Cream’, ‘Spring Torch’,
‘Summer Orange’, ‘Sunrise’, ‘Tib’, as well as ‘Golden Carpet; ‘Oxshott
Common’ and ‘Velvet Fascination’. Only the last three survive. Surviving
with them are:

Erica carnea (winter heath) ‘Foxhollow Fairy’, ‘Golden Starlet’, ‘Isabell’,
‘King George’, ‘Loughrigg’, ‘March Seedling’, ‘Porter’s Red’, ‘Rosantha’,
‘Springwood Pink’, ‘Springwood White’, ‘Westwood Yellow’.

EE Pmt

cu

Hill

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Top left: Heather bed — planting just
completed in 1995.

Top right: Heather bed — one year
after planting — shows holes for fence.

Lower: Heather bed — late summer
same year, showing the 10ft high
fence.

Erica cinerea (bell heather) ‘C. D. Eason’, ‘Eden Valley’, ‘Pink Ice’,
‘Velvet Night’, ‘Windlebrooke’.

Erica x darleyensis (Darley Dale heath) ‘Ada S. Collings’, ‘Jack H. Brummage’,
‘Kramer's Rote’.

Erica vagans (Cornish heath) ‘Valerie Proudley’ and ‘Yellow John’.
There is one St Dabeoc’s heath (Daboecia cantabrica‘ Atropurpurea’) and eight
plants of “Scottish White Heather” (Calluna vulgaris f. alba).

Whether it is safe to conclude from this experience that, for whatever
reason, Calluna cultivars are not suited to the conditions that prevail at these
latitudes is a matter for growers with a great deal more horticultural or
scientific knowledge than me, but a friend some 40 miles to the south on
another island had very similar results from a smaller heather bed planted a
year later. In his case Calluna performed marginally better than Erica carnea,
and Erica cinerea varieties were very decisively the best performers — as they
were, and are, with me.

Keeping on replacing Calluna with Calluna clearly wasn’t working for me,
and one obvious solution was to replace further failures with varieties of the
most successful heathers —so, over the intervening years, varieties of Erica cinerea
and a further two E. x darleyensis have been planted, and it is now three years
since the last failures and subsequent replanting. Fingers crossed!

The tribulations of the 230 plants in the heather bed should have dictated
to anyone with even a nodding acquaintance with the easy life to change
allegiance to potatoes or carrots but, by the millennium, the idea of a much
larger area, themed around peat and its workings, had taken hold and
wouldn't let go. Rooted in a perverse way to childhood (I never did like
working in the peats), the idea was to incorporate into a garden area what had
been common practice with peats. Tossing the idea around with a gardening
friend threw up ideas that were mulled over and coalesced into a plan.

Peats for the home fires used to be carted from the hill to the homestead
before the incursion of tractors. I could just remember that — so a cart was
first on the list. The cart might well have to traverse a road within the peat
hill area — so incorporate a rough road . The peats at the homestead would
be built into a stack — include a peat stack, and so on.

A cart was obtained by advertising in the local newspaper. The main
parts were in good condition but the box was largely past redemption. No
matter — the parts were all there and sufficiently intact to re-build. With the
help of a talented carpenter friend, two blacksmiths, a firm of shot-blasters,
an artist friend, and nearly 150 hours of sanding, filling and painting, the job
was completed by the spring of 2003.

Planting year. Coverings removed awaiting the addition of peat — two of the 1 cubic-metre.
bags in shot.

Work on the garden itself started in mid-June of 2001. The area — a total
of just over 4,500sq ft which also incorporated a 60 x 27ft wildflower mini-
meadow was given its first treatment of glyphosate. It subsequently had
four more spot treatments. A month later my neighbour went over the entire
area with a 5ft, tractor-driven rotovator, and then came the weary task of
picking out stones — a task which took several weeks and involved re-doing
parts with a smaller machine where the loosened stones had become re-
embedded. The volume of stones that were thrown up by the rotovators
was astonishing and even when they were used as a core for the peat stack
and building a dyke and a cairn there was enough left over to build the
whole lot all over again! By mid-August the cairn was progressing and by
mid-September the dyke foundation was dug out. Early October, and a mini-
digger carved out the road and one of the drains, and by mid-October the
first of the weed-control fabric was laid over the de-stoned areas and covered
over with stone chips to hold it in place, and by the end of October the
covering of the entire heather area, to await planting the following year,
was complete.

Early in 2002 post-holes for a 6ft-high fence were dug and the fence was
erected in September just before the planting was completed. Before that
there was shingle to bag up and transport from the beach for the area in
front of the cart, the core of the peat stack to be built from stone, peats to be
cut, cured and transported, the dyke to be built and turf cut to top it off, the
road surfacing material to be spread, drains to be laid, the cairn to be built,
the stone chips and the weed-control fabric to be removed, and several more
spot-sprayings of Roundup to be done as the not-to-be-defeated weeds kept
popping up.

I had decided, so as not to take too much risk with the project, to plant
the embankment area with 90 Erica carnea ‘March Seedling’, 75 ‘Springwood
Pink’ and 97 ‘Springwood White’ — all of which had a 100% success rate in
the heather bed. These arrived at the end of July and were planted by the
third week of August, together with 49 ‘Foxhollow’, and a further 32
‘Springwood White’ and 31 ‘March Seedling’ in the main area. Prior to
planting in the main area, the ground had around 2.5m? of peat rotovated
in, tamped down and marked out by drawing curved interlocking shapes

Planting complete — only the vegetable patch and a few finishing touches left to do.

One year on — all is completed. (The herring basket in the foreground is from 1901.)

with a stick, then inserting short bamboo pins, spaced at the appropriate
planting distances, with wooden spacers cut to the appropriate length. The
main order of plants arrived on the last day of August, the intervening time
having been taken up with completion of the stone-building jobs.

The planting list for the main area was:

Erica carnea‘Foxhollow’ (49), ‘Golden Starlet’ (31), ‘March Seedling’ (31),
‘Nathalie’ (41), ‘Schneekuppe’ (40), ‘Springwood White’ (36), ‘Vivellii’ (48);

Erica cinerea ‘Alba Minor’ (125), ‘Coccinea’ (70), ‘Fiddler’s Gold’ (81),
‘Romiley’ (52), ‘Stephen Davis’ (33), ‘Westwood Yellow’ (119); and

Erica x darleyensis ‘Kramer’s Rote’ (33).
ne thousand and fifty-one heathers — all planted in a few days between early
August and early September with the help of friends who kindly volunteered
their services.

Over the intervening five years Erica carnea ‘March Seedling’ has had
losses of perhaps 25-30, some of these damaged by a break in the shelter
netting; ‘Springwood Pink’ perhaps 10 losses; ‘Springwood White’ 15 or
thereby; ‘Golden Starlet’ — almost all failed and have been replaced with

8

Calluna vulgaris ‘Golden Turret’ this year; E. cinerea ‘Fiddler’s Gold’
likewise, and these have just been replaced with E. carnea ‘Schneekuppe’ and
E. x darleyensis ‘White Perfection’; E. cinerea ‘Alba Minor’ is struggling with
perhaps 25 to 30 losses and the remainder have all had at least one loss with
the sole exception of E. carnea ‘Nathalie’. Percentage-wise, these losses are
higher than the heather bed but the infernal problem of total failure cheek to
cheek with almost total success continues. I have both dug out and replaced
the earth where the major failures have been, added to the drainage and
treated the embankment area for leatherjackets (which I found some evidence
of when re-planting). But, I won’t be placing any bets that the answer has
been found!

Four years on — spot some of the problems developing (‘March Seedling’ and ‘Springwood
White’ on the embankment, ‘Fiddler’s Gold’ opposite ‘Springwood White’. Note also the wild
heather on the dyke turfs alive and thriving (they are even better now).

Heathers 5: 9-16 (2008). © J. Griffiths
A heather hybridizer’s Yorkshire garden

JOHN GRIFFITHS

9 Ashlea Close, Garforth, LEEDS, West Yorkshire LS25 1JX.

On occasion I have been asked about my garden and what part it has played
in my heather hybridizing experiments, so I thought a short account of how
the garden developed and the sorts of plants I grow might be of interest to
members. Many Society members will have gardens of much greater aesthetic
value than mine, so I lay no claims to anything of horticultural excellence.
The garden was developed on something of a shoestring, and no doubt my
account will strike a few chords with those of you who faced similar financial
restraints when establishing their first garden.

My wife, Valerie, and I acquired the garden in 1970 when we moved to
Yorkshire and purchased our first (and to date only) house. This was located
in a typical newish open-plan housing estate, and had an unusually large
garden for the time (even more unusual by present-day standards), covering

Figure 1. After 30 years, laurels and Leyland cypresses still provide reliable and trouble-free
boundary hedging for the garden.

10

just under one third of an acre. Although this was to be our first garden, we
already knew that we would be keen gardeners given the chance, and the
size of the garden was certainly one of the major factors in choosing the
house. My gardening inexperience meant that I had given no real thought to
what sort of plants might thrive in this plot, and looking back I can see that
I was very fortunate in acquiring by chance a plot with good quality,
reasonably well drained soil, and with a slightly acid pH — in other words, a
soil ideal for growing any species of heather. The garden had its problems,
and we found that it actually occupied one of the lowest points in the area
and some parts could become heavily water-logged in very wet weather. It
was also something of a frost pocket, which caused me many problems with
early-flowering rhododendrons and other shrubs. However, with increasing
maturity of protective shrubs and favourable climate change, this problem
has now largely disappeared.

When we first arrived, the garden was basically a flat, lawned area, encircled
by what seemed to be endless wooden-panel fencing, with a few strategically
placed ornamental trees and shrubs. Our first priorities were therefore to cover
up the fencing with suitable hedging, and to create more interest in the garden,
in the form of paths, flower-beds, rockeries and a pond. Though not appreciated
at the time, one of the great advantages of starting a garden with a very limited
budget is the forced acquisition of a wide range of skills, and as a young family
with several commitments, we certainly had to watch the pennies. Compost-
making and propagation marked the start of our steep learning curve. Good,
solid hedging around the perimeter was achieved within five years, starting
with a modest number of laurels and Leyland cypresses (X Cupressocyparis
leylandii) stock-plants and propagating these from cuttings. After 30 years, both
types of hedging are still intact and doing their job (Figure 1). Despite its bad
press, I have found “Leylandii” to make an excellent hedge if looked after
properly, that is, cut well back once a year. I will admit that for the first ten
years growth will be prodigious and cutting twice a year might be needed, but
eventually its growing energy will be dispersed through so many growing tips
that only a few inches will be put on each season, and clipping once a year is
plenty and will keep it looking neat and tidy for a full twelve months, unlike
other less vigorous hedging plants such as privet. Once established, the hedging
helped a lot with frost problems, and also provided a useful wind break in
what was quite a windy area.

Because of pressures of work, the prime object was to develop a garden
with all-year-round interest and colour, requiring the minimum of time and
effort to keep in good order. How fortunate we were, that in the 1970s heathers
and dwarf conifers were still popular, and our thinking was soon directed

FA

cepa

Figure 2. The water-garden in early summer, some thirty years on.
towards these for our foundation planting. Sad to think that had more recent
gardening fashions predominated then, we might now be looking forlornly
at a flooded “Mediterranean” garden, or a weed-infested prairie planting,
complete with decaying decking and peeling blue-painted fencing. Modern,
fashion-driven gardening hype has a lot to answer for!

In those first few years, progress was relatively slow due to lack of time,
but gradually more beds were dug and planted up. The pond provided useful
soil for the rockeries, and the rock pond-edging and waterfall construction
was tackled by using concrete moulded into natural rock formations and
textures. This technique took a little perfecting, but the result was well worth
the effort, and 25 years on, all the structures are still intact and look as though
they have been in place for ever (Figure 2). In the case of the rockeries, I was
able to find a recently worked-out quarry and after some phone calls I was
given permission to take away what rocks I could find, provided I tipped
the gatekeeper adequately. For the price of a fiver and a hired van I was able
to select all the rocks I needed and collect them in three or four trips. Although
the pond did provide some soil for the rockeries, this was not enough for
our needs and we had to look elsewhere. The answer to our prayers seemed to
come in the form of an advertisement in our local press, offering free top-soil

12

from a sugar-beet processing plant. I immediately ordered ten tons of this,
which soon arrived by lorry and I watched it being dumped on our driveway
with growing apprehension. Shifting this into the back garden was a priority,
as we could hardly get into the house, let alone get the car onto the drive.
However, a prodigious effort of wheelbarrowing, with the welcome assistance
of willing neighbours, eventually moved it, and my muscles still ache to think
about it. Unfortunately the soil proved to be full of lime and extremely alkaline,
and where it was to be used for heathers I had to resort to liberal application of
strong sulphuric acid to bring the pH down. Using nothing more than a plastic
watering can, this proved quite an experience, and with all the fizzing, bubbling
and splashing, this was not a job for the faint-hearted. However, I eventually
reached an acceptable pH without personal injury, and the rockeries were finally
completed by about 1978 and were planted up on the various levels with alpines
and winter-flowering heathers. The latter were given greatest prominence,
covering about five square metres on the lowest level, directly facing the house.
The chosen cultivars were Erica carnea ‘King George’, ‘Springwood White’,
‘December Red’, ‘Vivellii’ and ‘Myretoun Ruby’, and with the exception of
‘Vivellii’ which seemed not too fond of our Yorkshire weather, these proved to
be an ideal choice, and have given us welcome colour unfailingly every winter
for 30 years, with no more attention than a good clipping every May. Most of
the original plants still survive, and despite 30 years of continuous growth,
none have strayed outside their allotted space. These early successes with
E. carnea made me realise the potential of heathers and I soon became hooked.
Over the next five years I sourced numerous hardy species and hybrids, and
planted these in various locations.

Strangely, Calluna vulgaris has been the least successful with me, and
although the plants establish and grow well, they have generally required
the most frequent replacement (every four or five years). Even with severe
pruning, the flower spikes seemed to diminish in length every year as the
plants themselves became larger and leggier. Nevertheless, Calluna cultivars
will always earn their keep, thanks to their wonderful range of colours and
flower forms, and their amenability to propagation.

Erica vagans cultivars have proved much more permanent, and have kept
up their flowering performance with increasing age almost as well as
the E. carnea clones. However, they are somewhat harder to keep in check,
and do eventually outgrow their allocated areas. Ihave even had to replace
plants of the slow-growing E. vagans ‘Valerie Proudley’ after about 20 years
because of excessive size.

Other heathers which have retained their floriferousness and reasonably
restricted size (with annual pruning) for 20 years or more are various

13

Erica x darleyensis cultivars, E. terminalis ‘Thelma Woolner’, E. lusitanica
(the species), E x veitchii ‘Exeter’ and ‘Gold Tips’, E. x williamsii and
Daboecia x scotica ‘William Buchanan’.

Plants which I would never be without, but which do require replacing
every five years or so are various cultivars of Erica tetralix, E. cinerea, E. ciliaris,
E. x watsonii, E. x stuartii and E. erigena. For me, the most frustrating species
to keep satisfactorily for more than three or four years has proved to be
E. umbellata, and I must confess that I do not know the answer to this.

After my seemingly immortal Erica carnea plants, the tree heaths E. x veitchii
and E. lusitanica are my favourites, as they have provided invaluable, tidy
backdrops at key points in the garden, helping to divide the garden up, and
at the same time providing beautiful, massed flower-cover in spring. They
also have the bonus of delightful fragrance. The E. x veitchii hybrids proved
perfectly hardy from the word go, but the harsh winters of the ’70s always
proved too much for E. lusitanica and I was unable to establish plants until
David McClintock kindly provided me with cutting material from plants that
had naturalised themselves in the south of England. These were propagated,
and have since proved perfectly hardy with me, still flowering vigorously every
spring with never any signs of frost damage to the leaves or stems.

My interest in heathers expanded into acid-loving plants in general, and.
the family Ericaceae in particular. For the garden-lover, plantsman and
botanist alike, the Ericaceae have an incredible amount to offer, and it would
be a formidable challenge for anyone to collect just one example of each
genus (currently standing at 124 genera, I believe). These 124 genera truly
range from A to Z (from Andromeda to Zenobia), encompassing almost any
shape and size of plant one could wish for. For example, at one extreme
there is the tiny, Arctic moss heather Harrimanella hypnoides (formerly
Cassiope) which I managed to keep outside for a few years, and at the other
extreme there are large trees, such as Oxydendron arboreum which can reach
50ft in height (my own, grown from seed, stands at 10ft after 15 years).

For a few years I set about collecting as many examples of the Ericaceae
as I could, already having, of course, Calluna, Erica, Daboecia and Rhododendron
to start my collection. The first obvious additions were the other heath-type
genera Andromeda, Cassiope, Phyllodoce and Bruckenthalia (now Erica), and
these were followed quickly by such familiar and readily available shrubs
as Pieris, Enkianthus, Gaultheria and Vaccinium, and the strawberry tree,
Arbutus unedo. However, thereafter other genera became increasingly difficult
to find, and proved very challenging, but at one stage I did manage to put
together a collection of 43 genera. Alas, not all proved to be as undemanding
as the heathers, and today only a small percentage of these remain. For those

14

Figure 3. A mixed planting of heathers among blueberries in early September (left Erica x watsonii
‘Claire Elise’; right E. carnea ‘Ann Sparkes’).
blessed with acid soil, I can recommend trying various species of Enkianthus
(flowers and autumn colour), Kalmia (unusually attractive flowers), Lyonia
(flowers and autumn colour), Vaccinium and Gaultheria (foliage and berries)
and Zenobia pulverulenta (for its unusual silvery-green foliage and scented,
pure white flowers). My all-time favourites are the blueberries (Vaccinium)
(Figure 3), which provide everything one could want in a shrub: neatness
with minimal pruning, abundant flowers, intense autumn colour, and of course
attractive, edible berries, which are both extremely good for you and delicious.
Having soon become a member of The Heather Society in those early
days, I was intrigued to read the article written by veteran member Anne
Parris in the 1976 Yearbook — Preliminary note on a cross between Erica erigena
and E. carnea— and her follow-up article in 1977. Her comments inspired me
to carry out my own hybridization experiments, and I wrote to (then) Vice-
President David McClintock for advice. His response was extremely
encouraging, and it was largely due to him that in the next few years I
persevered with my experiments and did not give up after the first few
setbacks. My first attempts used pot plants in a cold greenhouse, but results
were disappointing, so I then used more mature plants in the garden. The

15

greatest difficulty was not the pollination stage but keeping bees away from
the pollinated flowers so that the results were not compromised. I hit on the
idea of using small muslin “tents” which could be placed over the whole plant
and staked to the soil, and for a while the heather beds looked most peculiar
with these dotted about the place. However it was impossible to plug all the
gaps, and bees are perhaps the most persistent of all insects, so more often than
not I would find bees trapped inside the tents, having had exclusive access to
all my carefully pollinated flowers. The eventual solution was to use small
mesh bags that fitted over each flower stem, and to seal these tightly to the
stem with a wire tie. Although less obtrusive than the tents, some plants could
have as many as ten of these bags on them at any one time.

After a few years I was getting enough successes with my crosses to cause
problems accommodating and growing on the numerous resultant seedlings.
It generally took two to three years to be able to assess the hybrid character and
garden value of a plant. As a result I decided to build a 1x4 metre cold frame
out of breeze-blocks, so that the more important seedlings could be lined out
and grown under exposed conditions, with some protection from wind and
frost (Figure 4). The frame covers were only used in extremely cold weather.
Hybrids produced successfully at this time included Erica x griffithsii

‘Valerie Griffiths’ (named after my wife) and ‘Ashlea Gold’ (named after
our road) (Figure 5), E. x williamsii ‘Gold Button’, E. x garforthensis ‘Craig’
(my first grandson), and E x watsonii ‘Claire Elise’ (my daughter). Interest-

Figure 4. Hybrid ane trials in the cold frame, 1985. The original Erica x griffithsii seedlings
from which ‘Valerie Griffiths’ was selected can be seen at the rear.

z REE) ie
BEE Se REA Be a : eae '
Rabe oun Ub SY Set ina Mu as oo ti

Figure 5. The mixed heather, maple, conifer and dwarf rhododendron beds in May, with
Erica x griffithsii ‘Ashlea Gold’ in the foreground.

ingly, ‘Valerie Griffiths’ does not provide such a rich yellow colour on my
soil as ‘Ashlea Gold’, and so I have found myself becoming increasingly
more attracted to her rival in recent years.

Today the garden contains more mixed planting than it used to, and
herbaceous perennials, spring- and summer-flowering bulbs, and climbers
are also to be found in most beds. However, heathers, rhododendrons,
conifers and small shrubs still dominate the scene. Some of these have
outgrown their space and usefulness, and are gradually being replaced. The
pond with its synthetic rockwork has stood the test of time and looks very
natural, and as the ravages of herons have at last been eliminated (thanks to
plastic netting), the fish population is burgeoning and will soon need thinning
out. The seedling frame has gone, and the netted heather plants are now
rarely seen, but the real lasting memories of my hybridization experiments
are the plants themselves, examples of which are dotted about the garden as
pleasant reminders of the trials, tribulations, and (very occasionally) successes
of the amateur hybridizer.

Heathers 5: 17-25 (2008). © A. Hall
Erica maderensis in England
ALLEN HALL

10 Upper Green, Nanpantan, LOUGHBOROUGH, LE11 35G.

Erica maderensis is a native of the island of Madeira and grows nowhere else
in the wild. On Madeira, it frequents the highest ground, typically on the
tops of mountains. E. maderensis is rarely grown in cultivation and so is one
of those heathers that is unfamiliar even to heather enthusiasts. For these
reasons, the plant has been little observed and written about. This article is
about my experience of growing E. maderensis in England and may to some
small extent help redress this situation.

In the mid- to late 1980s my interest in heather gardening spilled over
into a curiosity about heathers themselves and I wanted to know more about

Figure 1. Erica maderensis on Pico do Ariero, Madeira, December 2006, a short walk from the
café at the end of the road. The shrubs in the background are also E. maderensis, but this one
was the most compact and shapely. (© E. C. Nelson)

18

heathers on the fringes of the hardy species of northern Europe that were
rarely if ever cultivated. So I sought to acquire some of these plants,
Erica maderensis among them. Plants of these species can’t be obtained on
the market. However, one of the unsung advantages of membership of The
Heather Society is that rarities can be obtained through the liberality of fellow
members. Heathers that are worthless to horticulturists, yet priceless to
enthusiasts, are obtained without cost from one’s fellows.

A CLONE FROM AN EXPEDITION IN 1974

Dr (now Professor) John Griffiths generously sent me a rooted cutting of
Erica maderensis in 1989. This was a clone collected by Don Richards and
David McClintock in Madeira in 1974. Don Richards subsequently wrote
about the expedition in the Yearbook of The Heather Society.' He reported that

... on the bleak top of Pico do Ariero E. maderensis is quite common as
tight cushions or mats draping the rocks. Some of these plants are ancient
with a main stem thicker than one’s thumb and close pressed to the rock
up to 6 feet (1.83 metres) across. ... E. maderensis survived on the bleak,
rocky mountain tops where practically nothing else could find a living.

Lower down they saw bushy plants perhaps 1-2ft (0.3-0.6m) tall. The colour
of flowers was “near white to fawny or puplish pink, much like a paler
version of E terminalis.” Writing in 1981 about the same expedition, David
McClintock? said that all but the youngest plants had thick, stout stems. He
stated that the colour of the flowers was mauve — H2. However, one plant
had flowers with colours ranging from deep rose pink to near white.

A more recent botanical explorer was Dr Charles Nelson, and he has
kindly provided a photograph to use with this article (Figure 1). In 2003,
Dr Nelson gave a talk* to the East Midlands Group of The Heather Society
in which he showed a number of slides of Erica maderensis. One of these
showed a woody plant fully 3m long hanging down a mountain side.

SEED FROM THE BOTANICAL GARDENS IN MADEIRA

The 1999 Heather Society conference at Falmouth was addressed by Dr Judy
Rose of the Horticultural Research Institution, East Malling, Kent. Dr Rose
was engaged in research in which heathers were to feature. After her lecture
I discovered that she was seeking some plants to use in her research, in
particular Erica bocquetii and E. maderensis. Subsequently I sent her some
plants of both species. Later, Dr Rose obtained some E. maderensis seed from

19

a contact at the Madeira Botanical Gardens and she had a surplus which she
sent me as thanks for the plants I had given to her.

The seed from the Botanical Garden was dated 1998. I obtained, and
sowed, my share in May 2000 and raised many fine plants, most of which
I gave to fellow members of the Society, including John Griffiths and
David Small, our current President, who has also assisted me with my
collection of rare heathers over the years. I kept anumber myself until I
was Satisfied that the plants had similar flowers and forms to each other
and to the Richards/ McClintock clone. I now have clones from two
different sources.

HARDINESS

When I received my first plant in 1989, David McClintock advised me that
the species was hardy. Erica maderensis, after all, experiences windy conditions
in its native clime and is sometimes covered with snow. Moreover, Don
Richards could grow the species in his garden in Eskdale, Cumbria. David
himself grew E. maderensis outside at his home, Bracken Hill, Platt, in Kent
for a number of years, as he mentioned in his article on the bell heather of
Madeira.* He commented: “here it does not thrive or make the floriferous-
display to be seen in the climate of Madeira.”

Figure 2. Erica maderensis; plant growing Figure 3. Erica maderensis; plant growing in 19-
outside in sheltered spot, Nanpantan 2007. litre container, Nanpantan 2007.

When I had accumulated a number of plants, I conducted my own
experiment in my Surrey garden and later repeated it in Loughborough.* In
both trials, the plants were cut to the ground by winter frosts and fragile

20

spring recoveries were not sustained. A mature plant was later installed ina
concrete container, by the south wall of the house and sheltered from the
east by a water-butt. This has survived, and indeed flourished, for several
years (Figure 2). Dr Nelson saw this plant recently and thought it reminiscent
of those he has seen growing in the wild on Pico de Ariero.

My conclusion is that Erica maderensis might be hardy in milder, western
parts of the country but is on the fringes of hardiness in middle and eastern
England. In these places, the species needs some protection in the winter
either by careful selection of site, protection in a cold glasshouse, or, as
I prefer, in a heated glasshouse.

CULTIVATION IN ENGLAND

I keep stock plants in a glasshouse from mid-September to mid-May.” The
glasshouse has an electric fan-heater thermostatically controlled to prevent
the ambient temperature falling below +5°C. Good ventilation is important
and the glasshouse is liberally equipped with automatically operated, and
hand-worked, ventilators. On winter nights the ventilators have to be closed
but they are opened during the day even if it is cold, providing the
temperature does not drop below freezing.

Erica maderensis thrives when well watered. I water the plants every day
except in the winter months when frequency and quantities of water are
reduced to suit individual needs — as informed by experience. In some weeks
at the turn of the year, watering once a week is enough.

During the summer, my Erica maderensis plants are put in a sheltered
place outside and they enjoy their weeks in the sun.

I neglected to re-pot one of my plants for a number years but when I came
eventually to re-pot it, [found no trace of the root ball being pot-bound. The
plant, it seems, had accommodated itself to its conditions. This prompts me
to wonder if in the wild Erica maderensis has to live in cracks and hollows in
the rocks that contain little soil?

COMPOST
I use a compost mix of half moss peat and half Perlite.° This compost is light,
free-draining and acidic. Both components are water-retentive. To this
mixture is added John Innes base fertiliser at the rate of 6.25ml per litre
(1fl oz per gallon). During the summer months, I give the plants feeds of
liquid ericaceous fertiliser once a month.

I have not explored whether Erica maderensis might grow in a neutral or
alkaline soil.

21

PROPAGATION
I find that Erica maderensis is easier to grow from seed than from cuttings.
Each flower is capable of producing many seeds and early autumn’ is a good
time to collect them (Figure 8). I use similar techniques to those described by
Barry Sellers’ but confess that I do not take so many pains. I use the same
peat/ Perlite compost with a 3mm layer of horticultural grade sand on top.
The seed is mixed with a little of the same sand and sprinkled on top. As
Barry advised’, in his authoritative article, the compost is not allowed to dry
out. The seed typically germinates in three to five weeks after sowing.
Erica maderensis is a very woody plant but the stems throw slender, green
side-shoots of up to about 2.5cm (lin) long (Figure 4). These can be used for
cutting material but care has to be used in selecting them because they harden
quickly and the best cutting material has half-ripe wood. I root them in a
peat / Perlite mix with a thin layer of horticultural sand on the surface. The
cuttings are placed in a cold frame and the strike rate | obtain is reasonable.

SIZE OF PLANTS IN CULTIVATION
Currently, I have four plants, two of the Richards / McClintock clone, and two
from seeds obtained in 2000 from the Madeira Botanic Garden via Dr Rose.

One seedling, from the seed sown in May 2000, is now growing ina
19-litre (4-gallon) plastic container. It has a spread of 97cm (38in) and reached
a height above the rim of the container of 45cm (18in). However, the nature
of the plant is to form a hummock and it trails 27cm (10.5in) over the side of
the container, reaching the ground. It has a single woody main stem that is
2.2cm in diameter — as thick as my thumb in fact (Figure 3). Erica seedlings
take a long time to develop so I reckon that the main growth of the plant has
occurred since around May 2001, in other words within six years.

A second, older plant of the Richards / McClintock clone has a single main
stem 2.5cm in diameter (lin), while a third has seven stems emerging from
the compost and the diameter of these is 10-13mm (<0.5in). These dimensions
accord with David McClintock’s* and Don Richards’s' observations of plants
in the wild.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Erica maderensis is a distinctive plant with tough, woody stems and branches
that are not brittle. It puts out short, stubby twigs which form green side-
shoots (Figure 4). The twigs soon mature and harden. The plants
characteristically form dense hummocks around their roots or mould

MDD

10 centimetres

Figure 4. Erica maderensis; a typical side-shoot.

Figure 5. Erica maderensis; close-
up of a single flower.

Figure 6. Erica maderensis;
flower with corolla removed.

23

Figure 7. Erica maderensis; plant in full flower, Nanpantan 2007.

themselves to their immediate environment and this habit may be a response
to the strong, Atlantic winds that sweep its mountain homeland.

In my Leicestershire garden, the plants flower in June and July -
depending on their particular locations — and sometimes flowers appear in
August or even September.

My plants produce very pale pink flowers (Figure 6). From a distance,
the flowers appear white and when in full flower a plant can look attractive

(Figure 5). However, I do not regard it as a good garden plant, lack of
hardiness aside.

24

1 millimetre

Figure 8. Erica maderensis; seeds.

In his talk to the East Midlands Group in 2003°, Dr Nelson pointed out
that the valves of the fruits are woody (Figure 9). The fruits persist for a long
time after the seed has been released and the valves open and close according
to humidity (like a pine cone).

David McClintock raised the question of whether Erica maderensis should
continue to be regarded as a separate species’ or as a subspecies of E. cinerea.
He concluded that its specific status should be retained but said that it would
be helpful if someone could attempt to cross the two species. Professor
Griffiths was present at the East Midlands Group meeting in October 2003
and said that he had crossed the two several times, using E. maderensis as the
seed parent.

DAS)

a pm ft : ms
Figure 9. Erica maderensis in fruit; a shrub photographed at Pico do Ariero, Madeira in December
2006. (© E. C. Nelson)

REFERENCES

'D. A. Richards, 1976. Mostly Erica maderensis and Daboecia azorica. Yearbook of The
Heather Society 2 (5): 15-20.

?D. McClintock, 1981. The bell heather of Madeira. Yearbook of The Heather Society 2
(10): 48-50.

> Report on a talk on “Heathers of the Atlantic Islands” given by Dr E. C. Nelson to
the East Midlands Group October 2003. Bulletin of The Heather Society 6 (10:
Autumn): 13-14. 2003.

* A. Hall, 2002. The hardiness of some of the less familiar heathers in the English
Midlands. Yearbook of The Heather Society 2002: 37-42.

° A. Hall, 1999. Heathers in the glasshouse. Yearbook of The Heather Society 1999: 11—
Dale

°G. Yates, 1978. Pocket guide to heather gardening. Tabramhill Gardens,

Far Sawrey.

’ B. Sellers, 1999. Propagation of heather from seed. Yearbook of The Heather Society
Uk 2S = 229).

Heathers 5: 26-28 (2008). ©S. Kay
Visiting the African Queen — with the assistance of satellites

SuSIE Kay
Lettergesh, Renvyle, County Galway, IRELAND.

We awoke to an azure sky and a gentle breeze, which promised a wonderful
day for our trek to find the queen of heathers.

Ted Oliver and Ross Turner, the gurus of the Erica world had joined us in
a rented cottage in the Cederberg Mountains and were to take us to find this
very special lady. All aboard Ted’s trusty Landrover for the 70km drive to
an area just south of a small hamlet called “Op-de-Berg”. The place we were
going to is known as “Rocklands”, and our intention was to climb almost to
the top of North Rockland Peak; this is the opposite side of the valley where
The Heather Society tour went to view Erica thunbergii in 2003.

We drove through the fruit farm and up a very overgrown track to the
base of the mountain. Booted and creamed up, with supplies of food and
water we started to climb the steep kloof. Our first Erica was E. leucantha, the
small bushes completely covered with pale lemon flowers, alongside E. cristiflora
giving the pink hues that Europeans are more used to seeing.

It was a case of up, and up, and
up, but with so much to see that
we didn’t really notice the steep |
climb. Just before cresting the
skyline we found ourselves waist-
high in a field of Erica monsoniana.
A stop for more photos and
exclamations of how stunning it was.

After the first main ascent we
moved across a small plateau |
bounded by extraordinary rock |
formations, some of which looked
extremely precarious. After
wandering around and through and
over and under these incredible
rocks, Ross went ahead to check the
location — the wonders of GPS!

There was a sudden shout of |
“Eureka” echoing round the
mountains, and we moved as fast =

a ms be a. i) sere Sr er ras vy “ia wi

“Eureka!”: the Kays at the court of the Queen of African Heathers. (© E. G. H. Oliver.)

as the terrain would allow towards the call.

Spread just below us was the fabulous sight of Erica junonia lifting her
coral tubes to the sky. A few yards further away was a bigger population
with more flowers completely open. It certainly was an entrancing view,
with E. cristiflora in the background making the salmon colour of Juno’s heath
seem even more bold.

A good half hour was spent admiring the queen, and the paparazzi clicked
away from all angles. Ross regaled us with tales of how he discovered this
particular population whilst camping out in the area and heather-hunting.
There is another colony a bit further south in the Skurweberg Range, but it is
not as easy to reach, being at about 1,800m altitude, our flowers being at a
mere 1,600m (5,250 ft).

Having enjoyed the spectacle, it was time to head home and descend the
kloof. There are no trails in to these mountains, one just picks the easiest
route. As one gets older, the coming down is harder than the going up and
this old lady was rather slow. Peering down into the precipitous valley, I found
it hard to believe we had just “strolled” up, botanizing all the way. After

28

in
Lee

._H. Oliver).

Ji

Erica junonia on North Rockland Peak (© E. G

about two hours we did reach the bottom with no mishaps and a real feeling
of exhilaration. Only a handful of people have ever seen this particular
population, so this made the day very special.

A few flowers had been picked to show to the manager of the fruit farm
and the owners of the cottage which we were renting. However, it became
apparent that we had an extra guest staying in our cottage who was also
very interested in Erica junonia. We were woken early the next morning by
an anguished howl from Ross. A little mousey gerbil, who had decided to
keep Ross company for the night, had eaten all the precious E. junonia flowers,
leaving just a few crumbs for Ross to examine with his microscope.

During that day we saw 21 species of Cape heaths and once again I have
to thank The Heather Society for taking me to South Africa in the first place.
My biggest thanks must be for the continuing friendship of Ted and his
forbearance of my total lack of knowledge, although I did recognise one
lonely plant of Erica plukenetii. I also thank Ross for his total commitment to
Erica and his delight in spending time in the mountains. Without this pair of
enthusiastic and expert botanists, there would never have been an
opportunity for this particular expedition the see “The Queen of Heathers”.

Heathers 5: 29-38 (2008). © E. M. T. Wulff

The creation of a public heather garden: Cottage Grove
Community Hospital, Oregon, U. S. A.

ELLA May T. WULFEF
2299 Wooded Knolls Drive, Philomath, Oregon, USA

In early 2004, Alan Williams, Facilities Director of the newly constructed
Community Hospital in Cottage Grove, Oregon, contacted me about planting
heathers on the hospital grounds. He grows heathers in his own garden and
thought that they might be an attractive solution for a problem slope between
the sidewalk and a low spot that was to serve as a catchment basin for run-
off water during western Oregon’s winter rains. Photographs that Alan sent
me showed a long stretch of unkempt grass and tall weeds, difficult to mow
because of the slope, and some mature deciduous trees in the sunken
catchment area: a challenge.

I consulted members of the Oregon Heather Society (OHS) about taking
on this project, and we offered to design and plant a heather garden for the
hospital — provided that the hospital took care of site preparation, including
weed removal and installation of an irrigation system, and paid for the
heather plants, which we would obtain at wholesale cost. The hospital
grounds committee accepted our offer, and work on the site began that summer.

Soil preparation was relatively simple. The site is blessed with a sandy
loam spoiled only by the odd chunk of clay and a scattering of rounded
river rocks, and it is naturally acidic like most other soils west of the Cascade _
Mountains. The ground was graded to minimize and even out the slope,
and where the slope was steepest, in the narrow spot by the trees, a low
retaining wall was constructed to produce a more gently sloping planting
bed above it. A gravel path running the length of the garden divides it into
manageable planting areas and enables visitors to enter the garden rather
than just look at it from the sidewalk that forms the eastern boundary. Because
the path runs immediately below the retaining wall, the wall has become a
favourite place for staff to sit during fine weather. But I get ahead of myself.

I undertook the task of designing the garden. Cottage Grove is located
just to the south of the Willamette Valley, at an elevation of about 600ft (183m)
above sea level, in United States Department of Agriculture Cold Hardiness
Zone 8, with average annual minimum temperatures between 10° and 20°F

30

(-12° to -7°C): we should be able to grow any of the hardy heathers here.
The site was much larger than my own garden —- more than 210ft (64m) long
and varying in width from 5ft to 45ft (+1.5-14m). As a public garden, it
would need the impact produced by large groupings of individual cultivars,
as opposed to the small groupings in my “collector's garden”, yet there should
be diversity in colour and form, and colour interest throughout the year.

Early on, I decided that there would be a path within the garden, running
from the service entrance road at the southern end to the emergency room
driveway at the northern. The widest part of the garden, nearest the
emergency room, needed an additional path to allow access for gardeners.
Near the entrance to the service road and parallel to it is a large wooden
sign, and not far from that is a metal box for access to the hospital’s
underground power and communications networks. Both of these had to be
considered during the design process.

Also playing a large part in the design were the trees in the catchment
area that forms part of the western boundary of the garden, remnants of the
site’s original riverine vegetation. (The hospital is close to the Row River, a
tributary of the region’s dominant Willamette River.) The trees make a natural
backdrop for the garden, and they needed to be treated as part of the garden.
They would be thinned and their lower limbs removed to allow light to
reach the heathers. Their shade would reduce flowering in the nearest
heathers but would also give protection from hot summer afternoon sun.
After studying the shade pattern cast by the trees in summer, I decided to
put Calluna vulgaris ‘Beoley Gold’ and Erica ciliaris ‘Aurea’ in the shadiest
spot, so that their foliage would not burn during summer days that can
occasionally exceed 100°F (38°C). E. tetralix ‘Swedish Yellow’ would be
planted along the edge of the catchment area, where it, too, would receive
afternoon shade.

Figure 1. Schematic plan of the heather garden (shaded yellow); each grid block represents 100
square feet.

31

ia ie s ns Bat

Figure 2. Cottage Grove Community Hospital heather garden in late August 2006. From this
viewpoint, you cannot see the retaining wall because of the curve in the path, but the bright
foliage of Erica tetralix ‘Swedish Yellow’ is clearly visible under the ash. Some very happy
plants of E. mackayana ‘Shining Light’ are in front of the left-hand conifer, with Calluna vulgaris
‘Schurig’s Sensation’ behind it. Heathers in the foreground are C. vulgaris ‘Tib’, ‘Shining Light’
and E. cinerea ‘Alba Minor’. The vigorous central grouping is ‘Kerstin’. In the upper left, nearly
behind the large tree, is E. arborea var. alpina.

Fortunately, most of the site is sunny, which meant that the only limit on —
cultivar selection was availability. There are several specialist heather
nurseries in Oregon, and they were able to supply many of the specified
plants. Some OHS members donated plants they had propagated in their
own gardens, and we ordered the more difficult-to-obtain cultivars from a
heather nursery in a neighbouring state.

The creation of this garden provided an opportunity to demonstrate how
effectively heathers can be used in the landscape. One of the reasons for
choosing particular cultivars was our desire as a heather society to show the
public that there are many more kinds of heather than the limited range
available in garden centres and used by most landscape gardeners.
Consequently, in addition to ensuring that there were tall heathers, short

on

heathers, those of upright habit and sprawlers, we selected a wide range of
species and hybrids. There are now heathers blooming in this garden every
month of the year. Low-growing rhododendrons planted under the trees
add colour in late spring when the fewest heathers are in flower.

The new Community Hospital in Cottage Grove was made possible
through major fund-raising efforts and donations from the local community,
which had been facing the imminent closure of its only hospital when Peace
Health (a Catholic health care system serving communities throughout the
Pacific Northwest under local lay leadership) came to the rescue. Peace
Health, founded in 1936 by the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace, an order started
by an Irish nun, owns and operates the hospital. One of the nursing sisters at
the hospital is Irish, and she was thrilled to learn that there was to be a
heather garden. I had fun choosing cultivars with names that have a
connection to either Ireland, nursing, or the Catholic faith, however remote
or unintended that connection. Consequently, the garden now contains Calluna
‘Caleb Threlkeld’ and ‘Sister Anne’, Erica cinerea ‘Providence’, E. erigena ‘Irish
Dusk’, E. x stuartii ‘Trish Lemon’, E. vagans ‘St Keverne’, and E. x watsonti ‘Mary’.
That these are also outstanding cultivars is a happy coincidence.

the heather garden, photographed in October 2007. Calluna vulgaris ‘Schurig’s Sensation’ is in
the foreground; the tip of the conifer points to Erica x griffithsii ‘Jacqueline’.

Tree heaths — Erica australis, E. arborea var. alpina and‘Estrella Gold’, and
E. erigena ‘Maxima’ — used as stand-alone specimens punctuate the
predominantly low vegetation, and a loose grouping of three columnar
“dwart” conifers provides additional interest. Because maintenance of open
sightlines for the service road and emergency entrance is essential, the
conifers were planted near the centre of this elongated garden.

I had been so pleased with the effect of sedges and grasses in my own
garden that I included several in the hospital garden. The brown New

oi)

Zealand sedge Carex flagellifera grows into a fountain about 4ft (+1m) in
diameter and 2ft (0.6m) high. C. buchananii is similar in colour and height
but narrower and much more upright. The small blue grass Festuca glauca
was not actually drawn on the garden plan, but seedlings from my garden
were scattered randomly throughout the hospital garden after the heathers
were planted. We warned Alan Williams that we had planted them, so he
wouldn't remove them, thinking that they were weeds.

September is the month when western Oregon’s summer drought begins
to give way to the rains of winter, although most September days have fine
weather. The date chosen to plant the garden, 11 September 2004, turned
out to be one of the few rainy days that month. Nevertheless, eleven OHS
members assembled at the hospital to plant the garden. (Oregon gardeners
are used to working in the rain.)

In addition to the uncooperative weather, some other things didn’t go as
expected. The area prepared for the garden didn’t exactly fit the boundaries
originally outlined on the site plan, and the gravel path had not been laid
along the designated route, primarily because of construction of the retaining
wall — an on-the-spot innovation of the team doing the site preparation, when
the existing slope proved too steep. Perhaps because the workers preparing
the site expended considerable effort in building the wall, not all weeds had
been removed as promised, so some of our precious planting time had to be

Figure 4. Erica cinerea ‘Celebration’ flows between signposts in the hospital garden; ‘Velvet
Night’ is in upper right; Calluna vulgaris ‘Bray Head’ is left foreground.

34

spent removing tap-rooted weeds. Finally, when all purchased and donated
plants had been unloaded and placed in the general areas where they were
to be planted, we discovered that not all requested cultivars had arrived
and that members had brought along some cultivars I had not requested!

Thus, although we attempted to follow the (soggy) planting plan, fine-
tuning of the design became a co-operative effort, as we compensated for
the different hardscape and cultivar availability. What began as somewhat
awkward blotchy patches on the landscaping plan emerged in more graceful
final form as we juggled plants for the most pleasing effect and attempted to
adjust for missing and substitute cultivars. All pots were set out on the ground
before any heather was planted, so that we could be certain we had the final
design right.

One combination in particular was tweaked into a much more interesting
shape than I had envisioned. I’d wanted a large patch of Erica cinerea
‘Celebration’, my favourite golden-leaved cultivar, to be an attention grabber
as visitors approached the hospital from town. It was to be right at the
beginning of the garden, by the service road entrance. Highland Heather
nursery-owner Janice Leinwebber suggested that we run the planting under
the service road sign, so a stream of gold now flows from an irregularly
shaped golden pool on one side of the sign to a differently shaped golden
pool on the other side. This large patch of ‘Celebration’ is abutted on one
side by a planting of E. cinerea ‘Velvet Night’ that provides a dark foil for the
gold when its nearly black flowers open.

Low cultivars were planted at the corners where sidewalk and driveways
intersect: Calluna vulgaris ‘White Lawn’ at one end and a white-flowering
Erica carnea at the other. The identity of this Erica is a mystery that we hope
to solve when it blooms.

We may have set a speed record for garden planting as we struggled to
finish quickly and get out of the rain and into dry clothing. All of the more
than 400 heathers brought that day, in either 4in-diameter or gallon-sized
pots, were planted in less than two hours. Digging the planting holes evolved
into a game of sorts. As we encountered erratic chunks of clay and rock that
would impede the growth of heather roots in the otherwise friable soil, we
tossed them into the catchment basin. The “game” part of this activity
involved managing not to hit fellow members.

The rain may have been an annoyance, and the gardeners quickly turned
into mud-puppies, well spattered from head to toe, but it got the garden off
to a great start. There were very few losses during the garden’s first winter.

As missing cultivars became available, either later that autumn or in the
spring, we added them, eventually filling all the gaps. The few plants that

39

died were replaced, except in one small part of the garden that proved too wet
and shady to support heathers. Bowles’ golden grass (Carex elata‘ Aurea’) would
be more suitable for that spot and will be planted there this coming spring.

Planting a garden for a public institution that depends heavily upon
donations and volunteer workers has its challenges, as we have learned over
the last three years. Because the hospital is close to an interchange on
Interstate 5, the main West Coast north-south superhighway, OHS members
find it easy to make a brief visit as they pass the garden on their travels.
Sometimes we have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly the garden has
become an asset to the community. Other times, we have had unpleasant shocks.

The first, and still the worst, shock came when we arrived to discover
that someone had planted maple trees in the heather garden. Gone was
Rosa glauca, under-planted with Daboecia cantabrica ‘Cinderella’, that was to
have added height, movement and variety to one end of the garden. A maple
tree now occupied the rose’s place, although most of the Daboecia had
survived the intrusion. Other maples were spaced evenly along the sidewalk
at regular intervals, continuing a line of trees that began at the property’s
northern boundary, ran in front of the hospital’s roadside parking lot,
continued through the heather garden, and ended at the service road. One
dwarf conifer had also been transplanted to make way for a maple.

We contacted Alan Williams immediately and explained that if the maples
were allowed to remain in the garden, all our effort (and the cost of the
heather plants) would be wasted. We learned that he had not been consulted
about the trees and that they had been given by a very generous hospital
donor whom the hospital dare not offend. Alan managed to work out a
compromise. The maples, potentially very large trees, were moved to a lawn
south of the heather garden and west of the catchment area trees. They are -
bound to cause trouble for the heathers in the long run, because they will shed
multitudinous leaves and seeds, but at least they no longer are in the garden.

The advent of the maples was the beginning of a game of “musical plants”,
as we attempted to repair the damage. Quite a few plants had been moved
or removed, and it took several tries to get them replanted where they should
be. We decided not to replace the missing rose but planted, instead, Erica australis
‘Riverslea’, which would require less maintenance and was, after all, a heather.

A later visit revealed that many of the heathers had been nearly buried
when the garden was mulched. The original mulch had not been applied
thickly enough, and after all the plant-moving, it was nearly gone from some
parts of the garden. Community volunteers spread more mulch, but nobody
was there to teach them the proper way to apply it around heathers. They

36

not only had buried many of the plants’ outer branches; they also had de-
posited mulch right in the centre of some plants. I spent a lot of time during
that visit rescuing plants from the misapplied mulch.

When OHS agreed to plant the hospital garden, we said that we would
give the garden its first pruning, and at the same time, we would teach local
volunteers how to prune heathers so that they could assume responsibility
for the garden. OHS members are scattered all over western Oregon, some
living more than 100 miles from Cottage Grove. We did not want to have to
maintain the garden. At the initial, well-advertised pruning session, only
one local gardener and a couple of hospital employees showed up. We
quickly realized that if the garden were to be the showcase for heathers we
had intended it to be, we as a society would have to continue to prune the
heathers. We have now devised a pruning schedule that spreads the task
out over three visits: late autumn, when we prune the Daboecia, spring-tipped
Calluna and any other Calluna cultivars that have finished blooming and are
not grown primarily for foliage effect (golds, reds, silvers, bright greens such
as ‘Martha Hermann’); early spring, when we prune everything else except
the spring-bloomers; and late spring, when only a few people are needed to
prune the spring-bloomers, including the tree heaths. By not attempting to
prune all at once, we don’t overwhelm the limited capacity of our small
society and we ensure that the heathers are pruned at the best time for their
health and appearance.

By the 2006 annual North American Heather Society conference, which
the OHS hosted, the Cottage Grove Community Hospital heather garden,
though not quite two years old, was looking good enough to include on the
pre-conference tour. As a major player in the garden’s design and
maintenance, I was eager to show off “our baby” to other heather enthusiasts.
Imagine my dismay when, upon arriving at the hospital with the tour group,
I discovered that someone had given the sedges “hair cuts”! No longer were
they gracefully flowing fountains, assets to the garden. They were now
awkward upright bundles of stems — no grace at all to these pathetic things.
When I contacted Alan Williams to explain that sedges should not be pruned
in summer — they rarely need pruning at all, only combing to remove dead
blades — he confessed that he had cut them back because they were impinging
upon adjacent heathers. I assured him that had been my intent. There were
plenty of heathers, so we could spare the few that were crowded by the sedges.

During the tour visit, we also discovered that the corner planting of
Calluna vulgaris ‘White Lawn’ was in trouble. One of the in-ground sprinkler
heads was in that corner, so lack of water should not have been the problem.

37

to sit. Foreground: Calluna vulgaris ‘Firefly’, left; Erica x stuartii ‘Trish Lemon’,
center; E. x darleyensis ‘Mary Helen’, right.

However, when I returned to check it the next morning, the spray pattern
showed that the water from that sprinkler was going clear across ‘White
Lawn’, but none was landing on the nearest plants. Rather than plant

38

something else there, we are hoping that surviving plants of the cultivar
further away from the sprinkler head, which do receive some water, will
eventually spread to cover the dry spot.

One last mishap attributable to the garden’s public/institutional nature
occurred just this summer. The hospital badly needed a fibre optic cable
system. Access to the existing network was through the metal box in the
heather garden. Although Alan Williams tried to postpone installation of
the new system until autumn, when disturbed heathers would have the best
chance of surviving, the work was done in late summer when the heathers
were already stressed by high temperatures and no rain. Alan replanted
them after the installation had been completed, trying as best he could to
plant them where they had been originally. Amazingly, the only significant
loss was Erica erigena ‘Hibernica’, that had been planted next to the utilities
box to hide it. The heath was already large when it was planted, and it didn’t
survive the disruption to its extensive root system. We have not replaced it,
though we may do so eventually. The upright metal box now has an in-
ground companion. Concealing that box will be impossible, because workers
must have access to the box at all times. So be it.

These bumps along the public road detract only a little from our pride in
what we have created. The garden is only three years old, but it is already
giving joy to many people. This past summer, it was rarely without a visitor,
and many visitors brought their cameras. Because garden visitors were asking
hospital workers the names of heathers they particularly liked, we finally
labelled the cultivar groupings, in the least obtrusive way we could. The
names are painted in dark brown on red, grey or black river rocks, hand-
sized or slightly smaller. These rounded rock labels are snuggled into the
mulch where they can be seen from either gravel path or sidewalk. We are
hoping that they don’t become souvenirs for garden visitors. So far, they
seem to be staying put. Only the cultivar name is on each label. We provided
the hospital with an alphabetical list of the 71 cultivars. There is a
corresponding alphabetically arranged list of genera and species (there are
17, including hybrids) followed by cultivar names, and OHS member Barbara
Reed recently re-sketched the planting plan to reflect actual cultivar locations
and number of plants per group. The hospital heather garden is now both
beautiful and a place where area residents can learn about heathers.

Heathers 5: 39-43 (2008). © E. G. H. Oliver
Old painting instrumental in rediscovery of a Cape Erica species

E. G. H. OLIVER

Department of Botany & Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, STELLENBOSCH,
South Africa.

For almost two centuries, a painting from about 1820 was one of the only
traces there were of a particularly beautiful tricoloured Erica species,
Erica recurvata. None had ever been recorded in the wild, and for all we
knew, the plant might as well have been a hybrid raised in a London nursery
or even a figment of the artist’s fruitful imagination.

In early September last year (2007) the Erica enthusiast, Ross Turner, was
working in the mountains above the town of Napier in the Western Cape,
South Africa, as part of consultancy work for a proposed nature conservancy.
He was recording the flora and degree of infestation by alien European pines,
Australian wattles and Hakea for the local landowners. Ever keen to note
any interesting ericas, Ross noticed some small plants growing in rock
crevices on large boulders. From a distance these could well be the interesting
Erica banksii, but on closer examination he was astonished to see compact,
nodding heads of white flowers with very long, exserted, red styles. This
was something he had never seen before and could very well be a new species
— “rubristyla” was the name he coined for it himself. He phoned me and
said he had just sent some photographs by email, would I look at them and
see if they were of a new species. Well of course I could not wait until the
Monday morning in office so went down to look at the photographs
immediately. At first I was struck by the flowers and red styles which I had
not seen before in any live material. Going through the photographs several
times the “penny suddenly dropped” —I had seen those long styles before in
a very odd looking Erica when I had photographed all the old Erica paintings
by H. C. Andrews. I started to search my database of the photographs and
there I came across the exact replica of Ross’s plant — Erica recurvata apparently
named by Andrews himself!

The painting was done by the eighteenth to nineteenth century British
botanical artist, Henry Charles Andrews. This was from his very rare
publication Coloured engravings of heaths, which consists of four large volumes

Erica recurvata

Throughout this extensive family there is not one that bears any resemblance to
this perfectly new and distinct species; the aggregation of the leaves and branches,
joined to the drooping character of its flowers, with long descending pointals that

rival the finest purple silk, give it a singularity of appearance that renders it
equally interesting with the most splendid species. We have seen it flowering
successively from the end of almost every branch.
Our figure represents nearly an entire plant from the Nursery of Mr. Lee.

H. C. ANDREWS, Coloured engravings of heaths, plate 262.

Figure 2. Close-up of flowers of Erica recurvata.

containing 288 full-coloured plates of almost exclusively Cape Erica species
in cultivation in the London area between 1794 and 1828. These books are
extremely valuable, with very few full sets available worldwide. It was not
possible to ascertain the exact date of the painting, in the investigations done
several years ago by Ron Cleevely, Charles Nelson and myself. It was
probably some time before 1821.

The notes accompanying the painting give no indication of the wild origin
of the plant that Andrews used as his model. All that is known is that it
came from the nursery of Mr Lee — in other words, from Lee & Kennedy's
Hammersmith Nursery. (Andrews was married to one of Kennedy’s

42

eh bi 2a

Figure 3. Ross Turner pointing toasmall plant. Figure 4. The same plant on its boulder.
daughters.) In my database of Erica specimens, I have recorded three
specimens in Kew’s herbarium, all labelled as “cultivated material”. Only
one was dated — it was collected in May 1816 at “Milburn”. Considering the
herbarium specimens and the painting, this heath looked like rather lush
Erica bruniifolia or E. cumuliflora, and I could only assume that it was a
hybrid raised by some horticulturist, a regular practice at the time with
Cape ericas to satisfy the demand for new plants. With no herbarium
specimens of it collected from the wild, the plant was relegated to “hybrid
of uncertain origin”.

The earliest record of the name Erica recurvata traced for the International
register of heather names is not in Andrews’s Coloured engravings of heaths, but
in another rare work: John Cushing’s The exotic gardener, first published in
1811. At that time, as indicated on the title-page, Cushing was “Foreman to
Messrs. Lee & Kennedy, Hammersmith”. Taken together, these sparse facts
suggests that this particular erica was introduced around the middle of the
first decade of the nineteenth century and that Lee & Kennedy’s nursery
was the most likely place where it was first raised.

Also of specific interest was a Kew specimen labelled “McNab”. William
McNab was Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh from

43

1810 until his death in 1848, and he wrote a small book on growing Cape
heaths, published in Edinburgh in 1832. Before that, between 1801 and 1810,
McNab had been a gardener at the Royal Gardens, Kew. Thus, he was
working Kew during a decade when seeds of many of the Cape ericas arrived
from a fellow Scot, the gardener / collector James Niven who was at the Cape
of Good Hope from 1799 to 1812. Originally Niven was collecting for
George Hibbert of Clapham, and then for Lee and Kennedy in Hammersmith,
so James Niven seems to be the most likely person to have collected seeds of
Erica recurvata in the wild.

Niven kept small voucher specimens with brief notes on locality and habit.
These landed up in Edinburgh, in William McNab’s possession, and then
went to Dublin (because McNab’s son was Professor of Botany there in the
1880s). While the bulk of McNab’s herbarium was purchased for the National
Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Niven’s Erica specimens and notes went to Kew.
In my database of Niven’s Erica collections there are no records of his having
been at the Napier locality, but he was about 35-50km away somewhere on
the Klein River Mountains where the species could well grow.

A visit to the locality with Ross was very exciting. The plants he found
flowering grew in crevices on some large sandstone boulders — there were
only nine of them! They are small woody plants from only a few centimetres
tall and across to an old gnarled plant little more than 10cm across, all
protected from the ravages of fires that sweep the mountains. A thorough
search by Ross along the whole range has revealed no more plants. With the
very specific habit requirement it is relatively easy to locate any likely
localities for the plants.

The species has most distinctive long, red styles hanging from white and
black-tipped flowers which face downwards in small heads. The unusual,
very dark red, almost black, corolla lobes are shared by only two species,
Erica cumuliflora and E. genistifolia, both of which grow on mountains just to the
west, the former on dry, open slopes, the latter on damp ledges or rock faces.

What is intriguing is the size of the largest plant. At 10cm across,
Erica recurvata forms a woody, gnarled rootstock from which lots of short
branches arise after each burn. Knowing the age to which regenerating species
grow in the Cape fynbos area, it would not be surprising to estimate the age
of this plant at several hundred years. Did Niven perhaps visit this plant for
his seed almost 200 years ago?

The discovery in the wild of this long-lost species is almost more exciting
than finding yet another new species!

Heathers 5: 44-52 (2008).
Northern Spain, July 2007

RICHARD CANOVAN, EILEEN PETTERSSEN, GIANLUPO OstTI & SUSIE Kay”:
edited & augmented by CHARLES NELSON

* Contributions are identified by § at the start and the author’s initials at the end.

Domingo (Sunday). While three of the party were travelling from distant
parts — Lupo Osti from Italy, Dee Daneri and Molly Eggel from the western
USA (via the Alhambra) — four assembled at Stansted on 8 July. The quartet
comprised Eileen Petterssen from Norway, Susie Kay (The Heather Society’s
Conference Manager) from Connemara, Richard Canovan from Toothill, and
the Honorary Editor. The easyJet flight landed at Asturias airport a trifle
late and it was rather shocking to see the wet runway and to be told the
temperature was just 15°C.

Teresa Farino, our tour manager and leader, was waiting. Lupo had
already arrived and was chatting with Stuart Hedley who was to be our
companion for several days. But there was no sign of the American
contingent. Where could they be? Announcements were made, but Dee and
Molly did not materialize.

While Teresa waited for the next flight from Madrid, the rest of us set off,
guided by Stuart, for a brief visit to some coastal heathland — an unplanned
addition to the programme. We reached a small headland at Playa de
Torimbia, and took the chance to see what was in flower. Cornish, Dorset
and St Dabeoc’s heaths, ling and bell heather (for Latin names, see Table 1,
see p. 52) — all splendid, in the gentle, rather Irish, soaking drizzle. Our
American friends, and Teresa, joined us shortly afterwards. With the party
complete, we set off for our first hotel, following Teresa and guided,
ingeniously, using inter-vehicular walkie-talkies!

Hotel La Balsa in Soto de Cangas was ideally situated, and this lovely,
old, stone building with very comfortable rooms was our base for three nights.

Lunes (Monday). § The rain that greeted our arrival in Asturias was clearly
a cold front as we woke to a glorious crisp morning. After breakfast we
departed to Covadonga in the Picos de Europa National Park. It was to be
rather busy but we were eventually able to park and walk to Llagu La Ercina

45

At Llagu | ight a left: merece Lupo, Morning cof ee near Covadonga (ECN). Right
Susie, Richard, Dee, Molly, Eileen, Charles; to left: Richard (explaining microwave
photograph by courtesy of Stuart Hedley cooking), Stuart, Lupo, Molly, Susie, Eileen.

to examine the limestone terrain and its flora. The sink holes and other geo-
morphological features provided varied habitats. Teresa and Stuart knew
where to find the real gems. These included the familiar harebell, small-
flowered foxglove, Pyrenean eryngo, toadflax and saxifrage — one massive
rockery! A yew struggled up one of the limestone crevices. We found
Mackay’s, cross-leaved and Cornish heaths. We stopped there for the group
photograph. The Picos still held a few patches of snow in the corries, despite
the snow-free winter, and that may be the explanation for the paucity of
butterflies, their larvae not having been protected from the frost.

Before lunch we visited the cave and chapel, a shrine to the Virgin of
Covadonga, where the prince Pelayo resisted the Moors in the eighth century,
and viewed the nineteenth-century basilica regarded by many as the
birthplace of Spain as we know it. [RC]

Teresa had prepared a picnic and decided that the best place for this was
on the terrace back at our hotel, so we retired there. Lupo recalls the whole
trip, but especially those lunches; § I increased not only my knowledge of
heathers but also my weight: ... the picnics organized by Teresa were surely
among the best I had in my long life as an inveterate globe-trotter. [GO]

§ After our delightful lunch, it was off to the north west for Sierra de
Sueve, a limestone peak nearer the coast. At well over 1,000 metres, the air
was still quite cool and conditions ideal for work. The sparkling clear polar
air provided stunning views of the coast and inland towards the Picos de
Europa. One outcrop had four genera of Ericaceae — Calluna, Daboecia, Erica
and Vaccinium. Seven different heathers were found — tree, southern, Dorset,
and Mackay’s heaths and bell heather, plus ling and St Dabeoc’s heath. Stuart
was the first to find a white-flowered plant of Mackay’s heath; there was

46

also a good mauve and the more typical pink shades. There was an excellent
bright purple bell heather and a pale-flowered plant, and a floriferous, light
purple St Dabeoc’s heath. [RC]

Martes (Tuesday). Teresa wanted to show us a fine segment of coastal heath
which she had visited on our behalf, and so our programme was revised and
we set off in convoy along the motorway westwards, almost back to the airport.

Cabo de Pefias is a promontory, bounded by cliffs. A short walk from the
car park at the lighthouse (the ancillary building of which now serves as a
visitor centre and natural history museum) brought us to the edge of the
coastal heathland, and almost immediately Teresa and Stuart spotted the
lovely summer lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes aestivalis), so we spent a little time
admiring and photographing the orchid. A little further on, a network of
paths and tracks allowed access to a “patchwork quilt” of heathers. Teresa
showed us patches of white Mackay’s heath that she had found earlier, and
we soon spotted others scattered about — they did stand out! The urge to
wander and explore was overwhelming, and we soon were scattered about
on our own, wandering across the cape, looking at pale Mackays and dark
Dabeocs, striped Dorsets and creamy Cornishes. A “patchwork quilt” is a
perfect description of this gently undulating landscape thickly covered with
dwarf shrubs. The heathers were in brilliant bloom in every shade of pink
and purple, mingling with bright blue scrambling gromwell and yellow
cinquefoil We also soon learned that while the hummocks of Cornish, Dorset,
Mackay’s and St Dabeoc’s heaths, ling and bell heather looked soft and gentle,
they were inextricably interlaced with extremely sharp gorse.

Cabo de Pefias impressed us all, even those not besotted by heathers,
and the photographers among us all got some good pictures. Stuart had
been especially pleased to find plants “The Heather Society might not be
interested in — Exaculum, Spiranthes, Cicendia, etc!”: Exaculum and Cicendia
are minuscule annuals related to gentians.

Here are Eileen’s recollections. § Ever since I read about the 1982 tour to
Spain, it became my strong wish to see the great variety of Erica species in
the wild for myself. Originally the chance to perhaps find something exciting
was in my mind, I must admit, but by now my propagation days are over.
To me the greatest pleasure in heathers has always been to be with them and
the heather’s ability to survive unfavourable conditions is a great attraction
for me. For seeing hardy heathers in the wild this field-trip certainly must be
the best ever — the places we were taken to were magnificent. No doubt
there will be some new cultivars out soon as we really did see outstanding
plants well worth naming.

Above: Dorset heath and white-flowered Mackay’s heath at Cabo de Penas.
Below: white-flowered Cornish heath and cross-leaved heath at Cervera de Pisuerga.
Photographs © Teresa Farino.

48

Teresa's first picnic lunch on the terrace at Hotel Photographing white-flowered heather, Cabo
La Balsa (ECN). de Penas (ECN).

With the few cultivars available in Norway it would have been tempting
to take cutting material from several specimens of all the species we saw.
For instance, I’ve seen many pale bell heathers in the wild here, but never a
pure white one and my excitement was great spotting one near the edge of
Cabo de Pefas. To others it was nothing special and not worthy a name.
Happy memories do not need names!” [EP]

On the way to the heathland we had all noticed a white-flowered plant
of St Dabeoc’s heath in a area that was enclosed by a high fence, part of the
lighthouse compound. Whether it was the fact it was apparently inaccessible,
or whether it was just the lure of a white heather — Queen Victoria has a lot
to answer for! —some of the party wanted to get nearer to “photograph” this
plant. Teresa “pulled all strings” she could think of, and eventually got
permission for us to traipse through more gorse to see this plant.
“Photographs” were taken, of course! The lighthouse keeper was watching
but seemed quite unperturbed; indeed he told Teresa that he was delighted
some people were more interested in the wild plants rather than the plastic
shark that “guarded” the visitor centre. There was a white Dorset nearby too.

After our very successful morning, we moved to a nearby beach, Playa
de Xago, for our picnic lunch, after which we all took a brisk walk along the
dune tracks. There was some excellent Cornish heath in full bloom, and on
the beach abundant sea holly and a patch of handsome white sea daffodils
(Pancratium maritimum).

Our next destination, Playa de Espania, to the east of Cabo de Pefias, was
a fascinating place, included so that we could see Irish heath, even though it
was not in flower. The heather grows on the sea-cliffs, in the wet patches
where fresh water is trickling down. Another species notched up.

49

Miércoles (Wednesday). Transfer day: we were moving from Hotel La Balsa
and to break up the long drive, Teresa had arranged for us to visit Tito Bustillo
at Ribadesella. These caves contain a remarkable series of prehistoric
(Palaeolithic and Neolithic) paintings of animals on the walls and ceilings.
We did not have a picnic today, but a sumptuous fish lunch, Spanish-style,
at a bustling pavement restaurant in San Vicente de la Barquera, further
along the coast. Then we drove through the gorge that leads to south-eastern
side of the mountains, stopping for a break at the little pre-Romanesque
church of Santa Maria at Lebenia with its strange Celtic (pre-Christian) carved
altar-stone. Our destination was Teresa’s home village, Pesaguero, and
Posada El Hoyal. A heather-less day, for a change.

The posada is a small modern hotel with a swimming pool, and a superb
restaurant! § Who could imagine that in a posada rural in a remote village —
as a matter of fact just three or four houses — in the Picos de Europa, an area
known and publicized for its wilderness, you could have the food that you
may expect to have in the Ritz of Paris or London? [GO]

Jueves (Thursday). For today’s visits we were driving southwards, and
crossing the watershed. The first stop was at Puerto de Piedrasluengas, a
pass at 1,355m altitude. In 1982 David McClintock, David Small and I had
been to this place but my notes do not indicate that we found any heathers
of interest. Teresa, of course, knew where to go: a clear indication of the
benefit of engaging a local guide! At the pass itself, in a wet flush, there was
an impressive stand of lizard orchids. We had a lovely walk through ancient
beech woods, to an open saddle where horses were grazing. Just beyond
this was hill side densely cloaked with southern heath, alas not in bloom
(you can’t arrange everything! ), interspersed with bell heather which was in
flower. Despite the fact it was not in flower, the thicket of southern heath
was most impressive, and the associated plants too — wood sage and yellow
sun-roses (ideas for mingling?).

We continued southwards to a site that Teresa had reconnoitred, both as
a picnic place and as an interesting and different type of heathland. At
Cervera de Pisuerga, on deep sand, we found dwarf Spanish heath (just
finished flowering) with bell heather, Cornish and St Dabeoc’s heaths and
cross-leaved heath. Some of the plants of cross-leaved heath were very
remarkable with silver-white foliage (alas, my cuttings drowned in Outwell,
but I have photographs). Teresa found a splendid white Cornish heath — she
had been completely baffled, to begin with, by the group’s interest in white-
flowered heathers. After wandering about here ona lovely sunny afternoon,

50

it was time to return to the hotel, with another stop to see one of the regions
magnificent Romanesque churches at San Salvador de Cantamuda.

Viernes (Friday): 13th. § Once again we left the hotel looking at brilliant
blue skies and the promise of a hot day. We passed through a small town
called Potes, which looked as if it would be good retail therapy. In fact the
American contingent opted for the shopping. So only the Europeans were
daring the odds on this awful day and for one who has the fear known as
paraskavedekatriaphobia, the imminent journey ina cage hanging from a wire
caused the blood pressure to rise. But I was assured that in Spain Tuesday
the Thirteenth is the unlucky day.

Arriving at Fuente Dé we waited our turn for the cable car. All crowded
in, and up, up and away into the mountains — what an easy way to gain a
few thousand feet — into the magic world of the soaring peaks of the Picos.

Leaving the consumer area of shops and cafes we had been transported
to an alpine meadow. Everyone is soon scrambling around on hands and
knees, wondering at the botanical treasures on offer — rockroses, columbines,
Androsace (tiny relatives of the primrose) and gentians — and some friendly,
greedy alpine choughs. Charles, of course, is first to spot the gentian, just
the one in full flower. Lupo was delighted to find daphne which he thought
might show some different characteristics from the usual plant.

Teresa had kindly arranged the trip so that I might stretch my legs and
have a walk, but poor Charles had to “mind me”. It is not often that one has
the chance to just walk downhill, i.e. no effort, and still enjoy mountain
scenery. But I had not imagined a jeep track all the way; in fact it was more
like a motorway with many people and the occasional 4x4.

We ascended a short way to where several paths branched off further
into the mountain wilderness, but wisely set our sights downhill. No heathers
here and vegetation eaten right down by horses, cattle and sheep. Clean air,
wonderful sun, but a mighty wind. Down and down we went, with Charles
pointing out botanical curiosities of the area. Around halfway down a sight
for sore eyes for me — a coffee shop!! So we had a break with a wonderful
cup and set to looking for a place for lunch on the very bare hillside away
from the local animals. Teresa had prepared us a feast as usual, but we had
declined the wine today. This was the only area where we saw heather,
namely Cornish heath and it was very stunted.

Down and down and getting steeper with lots of loose stones, but in the
distance we could see the small village where we had left the car. Several
hostelries too, so we were able to have refreshment before the drive to Potes

SI

where local foods were available to buy; cheese and honey for me. Our ho-
tel had a pool, which gave Charles and me the chance of a quick dip before
the others returned for dinner. [SK]

Meanwhile ... § The days passed all too fast and the final day came. For
most of us it was a no-heather-day. After the splendour of the Pico peaks
and alpine plants we split up and four of us were taken to the hillside village
of Tudes with vernacular architecture and walnut trees. It was nice to see a
few of the old buildings done into holiday flats without spoiling their
character. The 30 or so inhabitants had joined forces and done the centre
into a nice ‘square’ in the shade of old trees, with a table and benches. In the
company of some hens we enjoyed the last of Teresa’s lovely lunches. The
glimpse of local life in a peaceful setting was really nice. [EP]

§ Our last evening together on what had been a truly international trip. It
began with a drink at Teresa’s home: a chance to say “thank you”. The
Americans had not been lazy on their shopping trip and had found wonderful
presents for our tour leaders. Molly had painted beautiful cards for Teresa
and Charles, but it was THE HAT presented to Charles which produced the .
most gasps. The peals of laughter and the sighs of admiration that, once
again, Dee had found the perfect present. Much photographing and people
trying it on.

The Hat! The wearer’s identity has been disguised. (© Dee Daneri).

It was an illuminating trip to find so many heathers co-existing; we are
used to seeing them in different habitats. A big public “thank you” to Teresa
for arranging the trip: it really was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. [SK]

52

Sabado (Saturday)
We retraced our route, north through the gorge and on to the motorway,
getting quickly to Gijon, where we paused for a short time to look around
the quite new Jardin Botdanico Atlantico. In the heathland section, a fine
Cornish heath was in flower (we assume it was wild-collected), and there
were representatives of the other species. A hunt for a plant of Stuart’s heath
(Erica x stuartii) eventually led almost back to the entrance, although the
heather beside the label did not look right. (E. x stuartii, the hybrid between
E. tetralix and E. mackayana, was discovered in Asturias about 1992, and last
year was also found in Galicia.) Soon afterwards, we had checked in for our
flight and the trip came to an end. We flew north, over Cabo de Penas.
Everyone enjoyed the trip: the enchanting landscapes and vistas; learning
to recognize Quercus pyrenaica; those picnics; the heathers, white and pink
and purple; the chance to make new friends and again to renew
acquaintances; the opportunity to revisit places seen in a hurry decades ago.
As for Teresa, she shall have the “last word”: “Thanks to you all too, for
being great fun, for introducing me to the variations in the Ericaceae, and
for your generosity at the end of the trip. I will now look on those purple
hillsides with a different eye!”

Table 1: Heathers seen in northern Spain, July 2007

(* in flower; $ with white flowers)

English name

bell heather * +
Cornish heath * +
cross-leaved heath *
Dorset heath * +
dwarf Spanish heath
Irish heath

ling (common heath) *

Mackay’s heath * +
St Dabeoc’s heath * +
southern heath

tree heath

Latin

Erica cinerea
Erica vagans
Erica tetralix
Erica ciliaris
Erica umbellata
Erica erigena
Calluna vulgaris
Erica mackayana
Daboecia cantabrica
Erica australis
Erica arborea

O18)

Hendrieke Berg’s hand-coloured copper engravings

Eileen Petterssen, a member of The Heather Society since April 1977, recently
presented to the Society a set of three hand-coloured engravings by Hendrieke Berg.

The three engravings represent the heathers that are native in Norway: Rosslyng
(Calluna vulgaris, see p. 54), Purpurlyng (Erica cinerea) and Klokkelyng (E. tetralix:
frontispiece). Eileen commissioned Purpurlyng; the others had been created earlier.
The outline of each image was engraved on a copper plate, and then printed. The
prints are individually finished by hand, using aquarell colours, to emphasize the
individual appearance of each print.

54

Hendrieke Berg grew up in the Netherlands. In 1985 she moved to Norway,
where she works as a botanical artist and illustrator. She studied systematic botany
at the University of Bergen and has considerable expertise in botanical illustration,
her images having been published in such prestigious works as Curtis’s botanical
magazine, Flora neotropica and Flora malesiana. She is often inspired by the abundance
of Norwegian flora and fauna, and is now working ona project about historic tulips.

As The Heather Society has no permanent library or archive, a decision was
made to deposit the triptych on permanent loan in The Lindley Library of the Royal
Horticultural Society.

The set is reproduced in this issue by kind permission of Hendrieke Berg.

55
THE HEATHER SOCIETY’S PROCEEDINGS 2007

Stepping down

On returning home from a short trip to Germany with my local horticultural
society in 2000, I was somewhat surprised to find a letter from David Small
following a Council meeting that it had been agreed that the position of
Chairman should be offered to me as he was relinquishing it to take over as
President from David McClintock who was stepping down due to failing
health. I was surprised, proud and humbled that, subject to confirmation by
the members at the Buxton AGM, I was to follow in the footsteps of so many
prominent incumbents of this position. As I was not at this Council meeting,
only the fourth incidentally that I had missed since 1972, I assumed that no
else had wanted the job. I will never know!

Looking back now, the first year was a baptism of fire as our Honorary
Secretary, Ron Cleevely, resigned for-health reasons and our Honorary
Treasurer, Tony Princep, was also not in the best of health. At Hereford in
2001, I was pleased that Jean Julian agreed to become the Honorary Secretary,
and my thanks to her for the assistance she has given to me during my time
in office, especially over the past year when she has tackled the recent Charity
Commission administration requirements which seem to become more
complex each year.

In 2002 Phil Joyner took over as Honorary Treasurer and it has been a great
help to have these two reliable officers helping with the running of the Society.

I wish that this farewell message could mention that the Society was
increasing its membership, but despite the best efforts of your Council,
including advertising, this is not the case, but efforts are continuing. We are
not alone in this regard; other societies also have problems recruiting new
members, especially younger ones.

In my report at each AGM, I mention that members get good value for their
subscription with three interesting Bulletins a year from Daphne Everett and a
first-class Yearbook from Charles Nelson. I make no apologies for repeating this.

Looking back over these last eight years the most rewarding event was the
2nd International Conference in 2004 that my wife and I arranged at
Colyumbridge, with assistance from Betty and David Lambie from the Speyside
Heather Centre, and the post-conference tour to Skye and Wester Ross with an
eccentric, although likeable coach-owner / driver named Colin Stewart.

These memories will remain, as indeed will others. I shall miss the day to
day running of the Society, but will continue to take a keen interest. My best

wishes to my successor.
Arnold Stow

56

ANNUAL GATHERING AND 35™ ANNUAL CONFERENCE
HAVERFORDWEST, PEMBROKESHIRE, 7—10 SEPTEMBER 2007

Pembrokeshire, ahem, is Wales!

“We never go to Waaaales,” I complained to everyone in The Heather Society
whenever anyone would listen.

“There is no heather in Wales,” was a frequent reply. Now, even though
I’m American and there are a lot of places in Great Britain I don’t know,
I doubted this was an accurate assessment of the ericaceousness of the
westernmost bit of the big island. When it was announced the 2007 conference
was being held in Pembrokeshire I was still unimpressed, right up until
conference organizer Susie Kay more or less gently broke the news to me
that Pembrokeshire is Wales. Duh, what to do? Stop whingeing and go to
Wales of course!

Arrival in Haverfordwest (after a personal little side trip to Caldey Island,
home of Cistercian monks and heavenly perfumes) brought happy hellos to
old friends and several new faces. Our hotel, The Mariners, was founded in
1624 but had updated their facilities enough to accommodate us in comfort
and charm, and to feed and water us extremely well.

It is customary at The Heather Society’s conferences to have a speaker
the first night who tells us about the

locality we’re in, to better understand
the lay of the land. This year’s expert
gave us our educational component
of the conference as well as a whole
new environmental issue to think | |
about: re-wilding. “
Matt Sutton, a senior conservation
officer in Pembrokeshire, explained
the background of his highly unusual
Marloes Coast Project. The National
Trust, he said, is in the process of
acquiring as much coastal land as
possible in the name of conservation.
Returning what was formerly used as fay
farm fields to natural heathland is the [a
goal — to make an area wild again — |
and it is one of about sixty similar &
projects taking place all over Britain.

oy

It’s an interesting concept, and for those of us with agriculture in our
background, an ethical dilemma. But it might be a wave of the future, too.

The next morning we journeyed out by coach to see how it’s done. High
above a sunlit bay we walked down an old farm lane while Matt explained
the problem. How to take acres of grain field, high in lime and well-fed with
fertilizers, plowed unnaturally flat, and make the land wild again? First you
remove the topsoil, 20 centimeters or about 8 inches of it, and heap it up in
hedge banks. That’s easy enough to do with machines nowadays, but then
you have to lower the soil pH dramatically and this is where the story gets
really interesting.

There happens to be a huge Chevron-Shell oil refinery just down the
road, and they happened to have a lot of leftover sulfur hanging around, a
byproduct of the refining process. So, in 2004 workers spread the dried, not-
quite-perfectly-powdered sulfur (we picked up chunks of it) at a rate of
between four and eight tons per hectare. The fields were sprinkled with a
seed-rich mixture of heather, heath and gorse cuttings obtained by driving a
farm forage chopper out on a bit of moor, and then Nature took over.

58

The result, which we walked through, is anew moor rich in native flora,
attractive to native fauna, and beginning to look like Pembrokeshire a
thousand years ago — just amazing, especially in its partnership of new and
old, or perhaps what we think of as dirty and pure. It certainly gave a lot of
new, radical ideas to think about.

But, before we could get too weighed down intellectually, we were
whisked off to Picton Castle, a wonderful relic of a family seat 850 years old
but updated with a lovely courtyard restaurant where we had lunch of
Mediterranean cuisine. After a guided tour of the residence we were turned
loose in the 40 acres of gardens, plus gift shop, art gallery and, by lucky
chance, a rare-plant fair that was taking place on the castle grounds. (A garish
but supposedly rock-hardy variegated Fuchsia from Wales is taking up
residence in southern Sweden as a result, thanks to that nice coincidence.)

Back at the hotel it was time for cocktails and dinner, after which we were
treated to a slide show and details of what we missed by not going on The
Heather Society field trip to northern Spain earlier in the summer (see p. 44).

Sunday morning we got “down to business” with the annual general
meeting. To be honest, your reporter’s eyes glazed over here, but I can relay
the news that our officers are running the society efficiently and well. There
were no big changes, annual reports were given and approved, and all the
council members were re-elected. But seriously, we should all say thank-
you to those who work and toil and even occasionally tear their hair out
over The Heather Society business, thus allowing the likes of me to take a
little nap. Thanks, all!

Back on the coach we headed east to Carmarthenshire (that’s in Wales,
too) and a visit to what surely must be the jewel in the crown of Welsh
horticulture. The National Botanic Garden of Wales is also the first new
botanic garden in Great Britain for 200 years, opened in May of the
millennium year, and thus only seven years old.

Our arrival by choo-choo train (see Autumn 2007 Bulletin for photographic
evidence) was hysterically funny, but it did give old legs a rest and eager
eyes a chance to get an overview of the sweeping lay of the land.

Originally Middleton Hall, a parkland estate, the place reached its prime
in the nineteenth century but went into slow, steady decline after World
War I until the Carmarthen County Council bought it. Today it boasts its
own herd of Black Welsh cattle and flocks of sheep, amongst many other
things such as a restored manor house, an original double-walled garden, a
peach house, ice house, glass house and a restored stable block (where we
had lunch) as well as world-class views across the Welsh countryside.

Oh, and did I mention a glasshouse? The Great Glasshouse is simply
breathtaking and is the largest single-span glasshouse in the world. Built
largely underground, it fits into the hillside like a giant dewdrop (wouldn’t
you love to see it from the air?) and, according to its purely practical goal, it
protects and conserves some of the most endangered plants on the planet.

Our guide explained that the plants inside are those of general
Mediterranean climate from six distinct areas of the world: California,
Australia, the Canary Islands, Chile, South Africa and the Mediterranean
Basin itself. We happily explored continents within a few steps and learned
that many of these seemingly diverse plants share features such as small,
leathery, evergreen leaves, in response to the similar conditions they face.
Beautifully laid out walkways took us around rocky terraces, sandstone cliffs,
graveled scree slopes, down to little isolated pools, all balancing light and
shade, moisture levels and a wide range of habitats. The total area is 3,500
square meters, which is the better part of an acre under glass, no columns! It
was stunning, and well worth the whole trip. There were eveir a few heathers
(Cape heaths!) growing in it.

Time running short now, we returned to The Mariners for final festive
watering and feeding, after which conference organizer Susie Kay had
scheduled the best for last. There was last-minute shopping do be done at
our own plant sale, a bring-and-buy event that remains a popular mainstay
of conferences. The new feature this year was a rare-book auction with Alan
Kay presiding. There were some incredible bargains and as always the
cheerful auctioneer got many to open their wallets and dig deep. Some real
treasures of heathery historic interest changed hands, and what a nice way
it is to remember people by passing down their books to a new generation.

We also got to see something of each other’s gardens in a high-tech
way during a computer-generated “Open Forum”, with the rather
inexperienced Administrator at the controls of the electronic slide show.
Isn’t technology grand?

But the people you meet are the grandest of all, as exemplified by our
Norwegian member who so stunned conference-goers back in 2005 at
Bournemouth by breaking into melody. Yes, Egil Sale sang us another song!

Your reporter had a long drive in the pre-dawn light to return a rental
car, so missed civilized breakfast and leave-taking Monday morning. I think
all who attended deemed the weekend a success, though, and we left
reassured that there is heather in Wales after all.

Juby WIKSTEN

Heathers 5: 61-64 (2008).
BOOK REVIEWS & RECENT PUBLICATIONS

MARY FORREST, 2005. Landscape trees and shrubs. Selection, use and
management. Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 978-1-84593-054-7. £25.

In her introduction, Dr Mary Forrest gives some quite depressing data. Only
about a thousand taxa are cultivated in “public and commercial landscape”
in Britain and Ireland — compare that with the 2005 RHS plant finder’s listing
of around 73,000 taxa (species, cultivars). Her very laudable aim is to
demonstrate to landscape contractors and their kind that it is possible to use
many more plants than the “six trees and 15 shrubs” which make up 75% (it
is estimated) of orders for plants for “public” spaces in Britain.

This book contain descriptions of plants and their uses, including a page-
and-a-half on the Ericaceae (less than 1%!). Heathers are only mentioned by
generic name, apart from Erica carnea. Surely much more use could be made
of heaths and heathers, especially the taller ones, and those with special
characteristics like resilience to coastal condition? Some public authorities
have used heathers, but they are few and far between.

CHARLES NELSON

URSULA BUCHAN, 2007. Garden people. Valerie Finnis and the golden age of
gardening. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-51353-8. £16.95.

Published some seven months after the death of Valerie Finnis (in October
2006) this is an evocation of “a golden age for the ‘plantsmanr’ ... the 1950s
and 1960s.” Garden people is humourous, even a mischievously affectionate.
Finnis (as she was always called by those who knew her very well) was a
professional gardener, and a consummate plantsman. Quite late in her life,
after almost three decades teaching at Waterperry Horticultural School for
Women near Newbury in Oxfordshire, she married Sir David Scott. In
addition, Finnis was an expert photographer acquiring her first good camera
in 1955, During the next forty-odd years she photographed plants and
plantsmen, accumulating some 50,000 2'/: in transparencies. So this book
has at its heart Finnis’s photographs of plants and people, a record of
gardening from the 1950s into the 1990s. She was never interested in
photographing gardens or part of gardens, as Ursula Buchan notes; there
are usually people in her garden pictures, but she only ever took one image.

62

Of particular interest are a few heather plantsmen (a term covering women
too): Mrs Amy Doncaster (1894-1995) [Calluna ‘Amy’; Erica australis ‘Amy
Doncaster’ ]; Randle Blair Cooke (1890-1973) [Erica carnea]; Jack Drake
(c. 1909-1997) [Daboecia x scotica]; and Geoffrey Smith at work in Harlow Carr.
There are two photos of Mrs Doncaster, one in Waterperry, and one in her own
garden at Chandlers Ford posing beside a Magnolia stellata that is encircled
with a pink-flowering winter heather mixed with white fritillaries. Alas, not
many other heathers are in view, except in the unidentified garden of the
enigmatic J. Brunskill (? somewhere in Ireland).

Finnis’s photographs are accompanied by informative captions and
narrative text by Ursula Buchan. There are “potted”, but not always accurate,
biographies of the main characters by Dr Brent Elliott, and Anna Pavord’s
tribute to Finnis from The Independent. But the photographs are paramount,
and they contain much that illuminates the last half of the last century. It is
a charming confection of a book that I commend wholeheartedly.

CHARLES NELSON

C. JARVIS, 2007. Order out of chaos. Linnaean plant names and their types. The
Linnean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum,
London. Pp xii, 1,017; illustrated. ISBN978-0-9506207-7-0. £80.00.

Order out of chaos weighs around 3.2kg: it is a monumental book! It is also
scholarly and painstaking.

Linnaeus himself wrote: “If you do not know the names of things, the
knowledge of them is lost too.” By providing two-word Latin names —
binomials like Erica cinerea — for almost 6,000 plants, he ensured knowledge
about them was not lost. At the same time he established a method of naming
organisms that is unlikely to be replaced.

Despite its hefty weight, this is a rather readable book. Four chapters, in
particular, contain essential, invaluable, historical and bibliographical details
about Linnaeus’s own major botanical publications (Chapter 3), the numerous
literature sources that he used (Chapter 4), the herbarium specimens that he
owned or consulted (Chapter 5), and the other botanists, collectors,
correspondents and intermediaries who assisted him or informed his
botanical studies (Chapter 6). There is also an excellent summary of his life
and career.

The culmination of a quarter of a century of research by a team, headed
by Charlie Jarvis, Order out of chaos records the designated types for each of

63

Linnaeus’s plant names. The type of a name is the “permanent, fixed reference
point against which [its] correct identity ... can be checked”, in perpetuity. A
type can bea herbarium specimen, sometimes now in the Linnean Society in
London, or it can be an illustration.

Of course, there are numerous references to Erica in Order out of chaos,
not just in the alphabetical listing of Linnaeus’s names but also elsewhere. A
word of warning — the index seems to have been prepared from an early
proof copy and is not correct for many of the Erica references.

A splendid book. I know I will refer to it frequently, and that is its purpose.

CHARLES NELSON

Recent publications

§ indicates that an abstract of this paper, or sometimes the complete text, is available free of
charge on the publication’s website: these can be found using Google Scholar, with the author’s
name and a few key words from the title of the paper.

ANDERTON, S., 2007. Setting the winter garden ablaze. The garden 132 (2): 87.
Includes Erica x darleyensis ‘Silberschmelze’ and ‘Furzey’, photographed at the
University Botanic Garden, Cambridge.

ANONYMOUS, 2007. Compton Acres, Dorset Heather in the mist. The garden 132 (12): 836.
“The Heather Garden peaks in winter”, and is “undergoing a rolling programme
of clearance and replanting ...”. (See Heathers 3: 62-63.)

§ BANNISTER, P., 2007. A touch of frost? Cold hardiness of plants in the southern

hemisphere. New Zealand journal of botany 45: 1-33.

§ BRITTON, A. J. & FISHER, J. M., 2007. Interactive effects of nitrogen deposition,

fire and grazing on diversity and composition of low-alpine prostrate Calluna vulgaris

heathland. Journal of applied ecology 44: 125-135.

BUCHAN, U., 2007. The best winter-flowering heaths. Daily telegraph 13 January: G8.
Recommends: Erica carnea ‘Springwood White’, ‘Myretoun Ruby’, E. x darleyensis
‘White Perfection’ and ‘Arthur Johnson’, and E. lusitanica; with pictures.

DUNLOP, J., 2007. Cherrybank Gardens, Perth ... A view from ... Head Gardener.

The garden 132 (1): 62.

Bell’s National Heather collection, “the largest collection of heathers in the UK”!
“The display of heathers is the key attractions.”

§ FAGUNDEZ, J. & IZCO, J., 2007. A new European heather: Erica lusitanica subsp.

cantabrica subsp. nova (Ericaceae). Nordic journal of botany 24 (4): 389-394.

HARRISON, H., 2007. Gardening at the northern edge. The English garden September

2007: 53-56 [NB in North American issue, dated November 2007, pp 45-48. |

J Mi

About gardening in Shetland, featuring Frank Odie’s “vibrant patchwork”.

64

HITCHCOCK, A., 2007. The return of Erica verticillata. Veld & flora 93 (1): 14-17.
More about the rescue of this extinct heather; mentions The Heather Society.
§ LA MANTIA, T., GIAMIi, G., LA MELA VECA, D. S. & PASTA, S., 2007. The
role of traditional Erica arborea L. management practices in maintaining northeastern
Sicily’s cultural landscape. Forest ecology & management 249 (1-2): 63-70.
§ MARQUEZ GARCIA, B., HIDALGO FERNANDEZ, P. J. & CORDOBA GARCIA,
F., 2006. How does the plant Erica andevalensis survive despite highly elevated soil
metal contamination? SETAC globe 7 (1): 37-38.
Available at http: / / communities.setac.net / download / cat-TheGlobe / TheGlobe-0701-
Full. pdf .
§ NELSON, E. C., 2007. Richard Salisbury FLS and the discovery of elaiosomes in
Erica. The Linnean 23 (1): 26-30.
Available from the Linnean Society’s website.
NELSON, E. C., 2007. Erica x williamsti Druce (E. tetralix L. x vagans L.): a note on
typification. Watsonia 26: 487-488.
Specimen is Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro; collected by P. D. Williams on
3 November 1911.
NELSON, E. C., 2007. The original material of two Turkish species of Erica (Ericaceae)
described and named by Richard Anthony Salisbury (1761-1829). Turkish journal of
botany 31: 463-466.
Typification of Erica spiculifolia and E. manipuliflora.
NELSON, E. C., 2007. The Porters and their passion. The Irish garden 16 (2): 62-65.
James Walker Porter and his family and his heathers.
§ NELSON, E. C. & WULFF, E. M. T., 2007. Proposal to conserve the name
Erica manipuliflora against E. forskalii (Ericaceae). Taxon 56 (3): 959-961.
Initiation of formal procedure to ensure an unused name is not resurrected.
§ PIZARRO DOMINGUEZ, J. M., 2007. About Erica x lazaroana Rivas Goday &
Bellot (E. arborea Linnaeus x E. umbellata Linnaeus). Fontqueria 55 (53): 439- 442.
A rather odd paper, and inaccurate.
§ RODRIGUEZ, N., AMILS, R., JIMENEZ-BALLESTA, R. & RUFO, L., 2007. Heavy
metal content in Erica andevalensis: an endemic plant from the extreme acidic
environment of Tinto River and its soils. Arid land research & management 21: 51-65.
§ ROSE, R. J., 2007. The effects of hybridization on the small-scale variation in seed-
bank composition of a rare plant species, Erica ciliaris L. Seed science research 17:
201-210.
THOROGOOD, C., 2007. Fen Bog. Our jewel on the Moors. Yorkshire wildlife
Summer: 1S—h9)
Fen Bog Nature Reserve, North York Moors: ling, cross-leaved heath and many
other species.
§ TURNAU, K., HENRIQUES, F. S., TERESA ANIELSKA, T., RENKER, C. &
BUSCOT, F., 2007. Metal uptake and detoxification mechanisms in Erica andevalensis
growing ina pyrite mine tailing. Environmental & experimental botany 61 (2): 117-123.

65

Supplement VIII (2008) to International register of heather names
Registered cultivars

Calluna vulgaris

‘Glasnost’

Reg. no. C.2007:03: registered 15 October 2007 by Jos Flecken, Kerkrade, Holland.
Multibracteate; flowers single, magenta (H14); end September-November. Foliage
dark green. Broad, erect; to 30cm high, 40cm across in 4 years. Healthy, fine
colour; late flowering.

Seedling (clone 21) between ‘Battle of Arnhem’ and ‘Allegro’ (K. Kramer, c.1987);
selected by Jos Flecken.

Reemeniiuna V47.7, 25.

I Ericultura 147: 16-17.

‘Juliane’

Reg. no. C.2006:08: registered 25 December 2006 by Kurt Kramer, Edewecht, Germany.
Bud-flowering; calyx red; August-December. Foliage dark green. Upright. Late
blooming with long durability.

Deliberately bred seedling from ‘Amethyst’ and “97-18-15”; raised and selected
by Kurt Kramer.

‘Julie Bradbury’
Reg. no. C.2007:04: registered 26 October 2007 by Dr Colin Rogers, Tintwistle, Glossop,
Derbyshire (see photograhs overleaf).

Dr Rogers provided this account of ‘Julie Bradbury’.

This is a foundling with two remarkable features. Flowering is very early in
the season, dying off before many of my “normal” Calluna come into flower; and
spring tips develop into bright red branches until the appearance of buds signals
a return to more normal dark green. Plants attain about 20cms tall x 40cms across
after three years.

[have called it ‘Julie Bradbury’ in recognition of the very helpful Brentwood
Farm Nursery at Charlesworth. Unfortunately, the nursery no longer deals with
heathers, having grown a couple of dozen cuttings for me, so it looks as though
it will not be developed, the only plants being in my own garden and that of a
neighbour.

‘Liliane’

Reg. no. C.2006:09: registered 25 December 2006 by Kurt Kramer, Edewecht, Germany.
Bud-flowering; calyx violet; August-December. Foliage dark green. Upright. Late
blooming with long durability.

Deliberately bred seedling from ‘Amethyst’ and “97-18-15”; raised and selected
by Kurt Kramer.

the. te

J,

Bradbury

s ‘Julie

“i

ular

C

Calluna

67

‘Nelly’

Reg. no. C.2006:10: registered 25 December 2006 by Kurt Kramer, Edewecht, Germany.
Replacement name for ‘Momo’ (reg. no. C.2005:09) which was rejected because
it is also a registered trade-mark.

R Blatt fiir Sortenwesen, Heft 11, Seite 281; Heathers 3: 69 (2006).

‘Pink Angie’

Reg. no. C.2007:05: registered 24 November 2007 by J. van Leuven, Geldern, Germany.
Bud-flowering; white; September—December. Foliage green. Broad, upright habit;
to 50cm x 50cm in 4 years.

Sport on ‘Angie’ found by Johannes van Leuven in October 2005 at Geldern.

‘Pink Madonna’

Reg. no. C.2007:06: registered 24 November 2007 by J. van Leuven, Geldern, Germany.
Bud-flowering; pink; August-December. Foliage green. Broad, upright habit; to
50cm x 50cm in 4 years
Sport on ‘Madonna’ found by Johannes van Leuven in October 2006 at Geldern.

‘Rote Schlesierperle’

Reg. no. C.2007.01: registered 23 January 2007 by Frank Mittrach, Gorlitz, Germany.
Bud-flowering: dark red; September-November. Foliage dark green. Upright.
Outstanding contrast with white-budded, or yellow-foliage bud-flowering cultivars.
Sport on ‘Aphrodite’ found by Frank Mittrach.

‘White Angie’

Reg. no. C.2007:07: registered 24 November 2007 by J. van Leuven, Geldern, Germany.
Bud-flowering; white; September—December. Foliage green. Broad, upright habit;
to 50cm x 50cm across after 4 years.

Sport on ‘Angie’ found by Johannes van Leuven in October 2005 at Geldern.

‘Zeta’

Reg. no. C.2006:11: registered 25 December 2006 by Kurt Kramer, Edewecht, Germany.
No flowers produced. Foliage yellow-green. Upright.
Deliberately bred seedling from “00-42-1” x “00-42-3”; selected and named by K. Kramer.

‘Zora’

Reg. no. C.2006:12: registered 25 December 2006 by Kurt Kramer, Edewecht, Germany.
No flowers produced. Foliage orange-green. Upright.
Deliberately bred seedling from “00-42-1” x “00-42-2”; selected and named by K. Kramer.

68

Daboecia

D. cantabrica f. blumii “Valvinsan’

Reg. no. D.2007:01: registered 4 September 2007 by by Jos Flecken, Kerkrade, Netherlands.
Flowers held erect at anthesis, urn-shaped, 8-10mm diameter, H12 (heliotrope);
calyx dark red / green; July—October / November. Foliage green. Habit broad erect,
after 5 years (pruned) 30cm x 30cm. The erect flowers are of a colour that is more
attractive than ‘Pink Blum’.

A chance seedling found in 2001 in his garden, and selected by Jos Flecken. For a
period this was grown by Halmanns, Kevelaer, Germany, but he stopped growing
it (commercially not interesting); it will be available 2008/2009 from van Hoef,
Barneveld, Netherlands.
R Ericultura 147: 7.
I Ericultura 147: 16-17.

Eponym: named by Jos Flecken after his grandchildren: Valerie, Vincent
and Sander Palmen.

Erica

E. cinerea ‘Angela’

Reg. no. E.2007:14: registered 6 September 2007 by Dick de Bruijn, Boskoop, Netherlands.
Flowers ruby to beetroot, corolla H5/H9; calyx green to reddish brown; June-
August/September. Foliage dark green. Broad erect habit; after 5 years
(pruned) 20cm high, 25cm broad. Has same good characteristics as
‘Pentreath’, but special colour.

A sport from ‘Pentreath’ found by Dick de Bruijn in 1997 on his nursery
(Boomkwekerij D.B.H. de Bruijn).
R Ericultura 147: 7.
I Ericultura 147: 16.
Eponym: after the finder’s wife.

E. x darleyensis ‘Bert’
Reg. no. E.2007:12: registered 19 December 2007 by Peter Bingham, Gedney Hill,
Spalding, Lincolnshire.
Flowers pink; corolla H8 (pink), 6mm x 4mm; calyx H11 (deep lilac pink); November-
March. Foliage mid green. Habit strong but compact; after 3 years 35cm tall, 60cm
across. Differs from other cultivars in its large flowers and early flowering.
Deliberately raised and selected seedling from Kingfisher Nursery hybridisation
programme.
Eponym: nickname of Richard Bingham, Peter’s son.

69

E. x darleyensis ‘Bing’
Reg. no. E.2007:13: registered 19 December 2007 by Peter Bingham, Gedney Hill,
Spalding, Lincolnshire.
Flowers white; corolla 6mm x 4mm; calyx white; November—March. Foliage mid
green. Habit strong but compact; after 3 years 35cm tall, 60cm across. Differs
from other cultivars in its large flowers and early flowering.
Deliberately raised and selected seedling from Kingfisher Nursery hybridisation
programme.
Eponym: nickname of Mark Bingham, Peter’s son.

E. x arendsiana ‘Charnwood Pink’

Reg. no. E.2007:11: registered 1 August 2007 by Allen Hall, Nanpantan,

Loughborough, Leicestershire.
Pale pink flowers (H4 (RHS75D) lilac to H16 (RHS65C) shell pink). Foliage mid-green,
young shoots discoloured; leaves in whorls of 4. Upright; to 1m tall after 5 years.
Seedling raised in 2000 by Kurt Kramer (Edewecht, Germany); this clone provided
the holotype of E. x arendsiana (see Heathers 4: 59-60. 2007).

Toponym: Charnwood is the Loughborough borough in which the Halls’ garden
is situated. The Borough of Charnwood is named after the ancient Charnwood
Forest. The Oxford dictionary of English place names gives the mediaeval version of
Charnwood as “Cernewoda” meaning “Wood ina rocky country”.

E. x darleyensis ‘Katia’
Reg. no. E.2007:10: registered 25 June 2007 by Olivier Pantin, SAPHO, Les Islettes
49250 La Ménitré, France, on behalf of Aurélie, Gaélle & Pierrick Brégeon.
Corolla white; November- February. Foliage green. Bushy habit. “Posséde des
fleurs d’une taille 2 fois supérieure a la variété d’origine.”
Sport on ‘Silberschmelze’ found at Vaud, Switzerland, in 1998 by Henri
Brégeon.
R Heathers 3: 74 (2006).

E. vagans ‘Keira’

Reg. no. E.2007:02: registered 10 January 2007 by David Edge, Forest Edge Nurseries,

Woodlands, Wimborne, Dorset.
Flowers single with deep rose-pink corolla; calyx deep rose-pink; August—October.
Foliage dark green. Bushy. Has larger bolder flowers and foliage than “type”.
Deliberately bred seedling (possibly involving ‘Mrs D. F. Maxwell’) raised by
Kurt Kramer; selected and introduced by Forest Edge Nurseries; named by Miss
Samantha Cordwell.

70

E. x darleyensis ‘Lucie’
Reg. no. E.2007:05; registered 5 June 2007 by Olivier Pantin, SAPHO, Les Islettes, La Ménitré,
France, on behalf of les Pépinieres Renault, Domaine du Rocher, Gorron, France.
“Fleurs rouge (type ‘Kramer’s Rote’), Décembre—Avril; fleur dont la taille est
double de celle de ‘Kramer's Rote’. Variété plus tardive que ‘Kramer’s Rote’ de
quelques semaines. Vert foncé; étalé.”
A sport on ‘Kramer’s Rote’ at Pépinieres Renault, in 1997.
R Heathers 3: 74 (2006).

E. x williamsti ‘Phantom’
Reg. no. E.2007:09 registered on 12 June 2007 by David Wilson, Chilliwack, British
Columbia, Canada.
Low-growing shrub to 0.3m across, +0.15m tall after 4 years; foliage light green;
young shoots yellow. Flowers single; July-September; calyx lobes green, unequal,
fused only at base; corolla white, 4-lobed; lobes with very sparse hairs in bud;
stamens 8, short; filaments +2mm long, free or variously and irregularly fused
in groups of 2-3; anthers small, thecae pale red when young turning pale tan.
Deliberately bred seedling raised in 1986 from crosses made the year before;
E. tetralix ‘Alba Mollis’ x E. vagans ‘Lyonesse’.
R Heathers 4: 58 (2007); D. McClintock, Heathers of the Lizard (1998).
Fantasy name.

E. x arendsiana ‘Ronsdorf’

Reg. no. E.2007:04; registered 17 May 2007 by Kurt Kramer, Edewecht, Germany.
Has darker, lavender (RHS75A, H3) flowers, than ‘Charnwood Pink’; habit more
compact than ‘Charnwood Pink’; foliage green.

Dark-flowered clone (number 1), raised by Kurt Kramer in 2000.
R Heathers 4: 59-60 (2007).

Toponym; Georg Arends, of Wuppertal Ronsdorf, the renowned German
plant breeder and nurseryman was the first to raise the hybrid.

E. x stuartii ‘Stuart’s Original’

Reg. no. E.2007:03; registered 17 March 2007 by the Registrar.
Original clone of E. x stuartit.
Replacement name for ‘Stuartii’; note that ‘Charles Stuart’ was formally rejected
(Yearbook of The Heather Society 1998: 72) and so cannot be used.

7

E. australis ‘Trisha’
Reg. no. E.2007.01; registered 10 January 2007 by David Edge, Forest Edge
Nurseries, Woodlands, Wimborne, Dorset.

Flower semi-double, with 4—6(-9) lobes; corolla deep lilac; calyx deep lilac, with
<9 unequal, free sepals; bract and bracteoles stained dark red; March—May. Foliage
“sage green”. Bushy, well-branched, erect. The corolla may have a “flap” forming
an extra lobe or a petaloid sepal fused to the outside.

Deliberately bred seedling, raised by Kurt Kramer; selected by David Edge (Forest
Edge Nurseries, Dorset).

Eponym: after Trisha Hardy, manageress at Forest Edge Nurseries.

Note: on The Heather Society’s 2007 “Society life in pictures” CD-ROM a
photograph of this is mis-labelled “Ashford’s Blush” which is not established
and should not be used.

72.

Other names (not registered) new to the International register of
heather names in 2007

Calluna vulgaris

BEAUTY SIsTERS: trade designation for a pair of cultivars.

Vorratsliste (6 Marz 2007) [http:/ /www.schlangen-jungpflanzen.de /
fileadmin/user_upload /Dokumente/katalog.pdf].

‘Corita’: flowers “chartreuse”.

Being propagated in Canada by Qualitree Propagators, Rosedale, British Columbia.
Qualitree Propagators Inc availability list for 27-Aug-07: 1 (pdf file downloaded
1 September 2007).

‘Dark Beauty I’: flowers “dark pink”.

Being propagated in Canada by Qualitree Propagators, Rosedale, British Columbia.
Qualitree Propagators Inc availability list for 27-Aug-07: 1 (pdf file downloaded
1 September 2007).

‘Gelbe Maassen’: rejected, correct name ‘Cottswood Gold’.

According to Jos Flecken (email 1 September 2007), Gerd Maassen (Straelen.
Germany) uses ‘Cottswood Gold “ in trios of Beauty Laptes, so his licencees call it
‘Gelbe Maassen’.

Heidesortiment zur Heideschau 2005 Gartnerei Felgentrager, Leipzig
(www.felgentraeger.com pdf downloaded 1 September 2007); Vorratsliste
(6 Marz 2007) [http:/ /www.schlangen-jungpflanzen.de /fileadmin/
user_upload /Dokumente /katalog.pdf].

‘Hebbe’: Heathers 4: 16 (2007).

‘Jeanette’: bud-flowering; white.

Being propagated in Canada by Qualitree Propagators, Rosedale, British Columbia.
Qualitree Propagators Inc availability list for 27-Aug-07: 1 (pdf file
downloaded 1 September 2007).

‘Josepha’: flowers “rosa”, September-October; height 35cm.

Listed by Gartnerei Felgentrager, Leipzig: Heidesortiment zur Heideschau 2005
Gartnerei Felgentrager, Leipzig (www.felgentraeger.com pdf downloaded
1 September 2007).

‘Karminfeuer’: flowers “lilarosa”, end of August-September (quite early): foliage
turns golden yellow with carmine over bright orange throughout the winter.
Chance seedling from ‘Boskoop’, raised and selected at Soltauer Baumschulen
Robert Nielsen, Soltau, Germany.
http: / /www.baumschule-nielsen.de [accessed 22 December 2007].

‘Kinlochuel’: typographic error for ‘Kinlochruel’

Heidesortiment zur Heideschau 2005 Gartnerei Felgentrager, Leipzig

(www.felgentraeger.com pdf downloaded 1 September 2007).
‘Landebroog Pride’: typographic error for ‘Llanbedrog Pride’.

L. Denkewitz, Heidegarten: 324 (1987).

73

‘Miefsner’: rejected, correct name ‘Eckart Miefsner’.

Listed by Heinz Schlangen (Saterland/Scharrel, Germany); Vorratsliste (6 Marz
2007) [http:/ /www.schlangen-jungpflanzen.de /fileadmin/user_upload /
Dokumente /katalog.pdf].

‘Newfoundland’: flowers purple.

Plant Availability List-Spring 2000 (Hancock Woodland Nurseries, Mississauga,
Ontario, Canada). [http: / / www.hancockwoodlands.ca/ plantlist.html# Broadleaf
accessed 21 December 2007].

‘Rote Mullion’; niedrig kompakt, hellrot (September—October), to 25 cm tall.

Listed by Gartengestaltung Thomas Witte (Bispingen, Germany).
www.heidegaerten.de (accessed 1 September 2007).

‘Scholjes Moritz’: breitbuschig mittelhoch Bliite: magentarot geftillt; September-October.
Vorrats- und Preisliste ftir Jungpflanzen 2006: 4 (pdf available on-line).

[ http: / / www.baumschule-krebs.de/ Produkte /Jungpflanzen2006.pdf;
accessed 20 October 2006]

‘Seestern’: bright yellow branches spread flat like the arms of a starfish; turning at
the beginning of the winter to bright orange. Flowers bright lilac, and due to rich
colour of the leaves, the blooms stand out.

Seedling from ‘Boskoop’, raised and selected at Soltauer Baumschulen Robert
Nielsen, Soltau, Germany.
[http:/ /www.baumschule-nielsen.de accessed 22 December 2007].

‘Svenja’: flowers “Rot”.

Listed by Heinz Schlangen (Saterland /Scharrel, Germany) as ®. Vorratsliste
(6 Marz 2007) [http://www.schlangen-jungpflanzen.de/fileadmin/
user_upload /Dokumente/katalog.pdf].

Twin Gms: trade designation for a pair of plants “zwei Blutenfarben auf einer pflanze”.
Heidesortiment zur Heideschau 2005 Gartnerei Felgentrager, Leipzig
(www.felgentraeger.com pdf downloaded 1 September 2007).

‘Veronique II’: flowers white.

Listed by Heinz Schlangen (Saterland /Scharrel, Germany) as ®. Vorratsliste (6
Marz 2007) [http:/ /www.schlangen-jungpflanzen.de / fileadmin/
user_upload /Dokumente /katalog.pdf].

‘Wynanda’: bud-flowering; purple.

Being propagated in Canada by Qualitree Propagators, Rosedale, British Columbia.
Qualitree Propagators Inc availability list for 27-Aug-07: 1 (pdf file
downloaded 1 September 2007).

Daboecia

D. cantabrica ‘Praegerie’: typographic error.
www.heidegaerten.de (pdf) (accessed 1 December 2007).

D. cantabrica ‘Violetta’: “aufrecht, violett-rosa” (June—October); to 35 cm tall.
Listed by Gartengestaltung Thomas Witte (Bispingen, Germany).
www.heidegaerten.de (accessed 1 December 2007); www.ppp-index.de.

D. x scotica ‘Silverswells’: typographic error.

B. de la Rochefoucauld, La bruyére: 67 (1979, 1st edition).

74

Erica dabici Crantz: invalid (ICBN)

Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums, Wien 68: 155 (1965).

Erica
E. arborea

‘Alberta Gold’: typographic error: http://www.heidegaerten.de/
heide_pflanzen.php?heidepflanzen=Alberta_Gold, Baumheide [accessed
1 September 2007]

E. carnea

‘Chamialeon’: “Farbe rosa” (ruby H5); February—March. Foliage golden copper
(“gelbkupferferbenes”, changes several times in a year, hence the name).

Jos Flecken bought it from Gruenberg Nursery (Coswig, Germany); they bought
it at an auction mart. Listed by Gartnerei Felgentrager, Leipzig. Heidesortiment
zur Heideschau 2005 Gartnerei Felgentrager, Leipzig; www.felgentraeger.com
pdf [downloaded 1 September 2007]

‘Kathy’: rejected (under ICNCP 2004. Art 19.25; may be orthographic error for
‘Kathi’): “breit aufrecht, weiss” (February—April), to 25cm tall.
www.heidegaerten.de [accessed 1 September 2007]

‘Marzenschnee’: white, late.

Listed by Heinz Schlangen (Saterland /Scharrel, Germany); http: / /
www.schlangen-jungpflanzen.de /index.php?id=29&L=1.

‘Rosa Diamant’: rejected (under ICNCP 2004. Art 19.24); “flowers abundantly
with H7 rose pink flowers, compact habit”; “aufrecht breit, rosa” (February—
April), to 25cm tall.

Listed by Heinz Schlangen (Saterland /Scharrel, Germany); http: / /
www.schlangen-jungpflanzen.de /index.php?id=29&L=1;
www.heidegaerten.de [accessed 1 September 2007]

E. x darleyensis

‘Citzlers Rosa’: rejected (under ICNCP 2004. Art 19.24).

Being propagated in Canada by Qualitree Propagators Inc, Rosedale, BC; origin
unknown but possibly connected with Gartenbau Citzler GbR, Giitersloh,
Germany; Qualitree Propagators Inc website [accessed 1 September 2007]
‘Eriginia’: presumed error for E. erigena.

Listed by Heinz Schlangen (Saterland /Scharrel, Germany); http: / /
www.schlangen-jungpflanzen.de /fileadmin/user_upload /Dokumente /
katalog.pdf.

‘Kraemers Red’: orthographic error

Qualitree Propagators Inc availability list for 27-Aug-07: 1 [pdf file downloaded
1 September 2007]

E. x griffithsi

‘Ashley Gold’: typographic error: Bulletin of The Heather Society 5 (15): 14 (1998).

E. spiculifolia

‘Bruckenthalia’: rejected (under ICNCP 2004. Art 19.24).
Heidesortiment zur Heideschau 2005 Gartnerei Felgentrager, Leipzig,
Germany; www.felgentraeger.com [pdf downloaded 1 September 2007]

THE REA THER SOCIETY

Chairman: (email: stow.limmer@btinternet.com)
Mr A.J. Stow: Widmour, Limmer Lane, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP12 4QR.

Secretary and Slide Librarian: (email: jean.julian@btinternet.com)
Mrs J. Julian: Matchams, Main Street, Askham Richard, YO23 3PT.

Treasurer: (email: pjoyner@supanet.com)
Mr. P. Joyner: 84 Kinross Road, Rushington Manor, Totton, Southampton, SO40 9BN.

Editor of Bulletin: (email: everettbannut@zetnet.co.uk)
Mrs D. Everett: The Bannut, Bringsty, WR6 5TA.

Administrator & Registrar: (email: admin@heathersociety.org.uk)
Dr. E.C. Nelson: Tippitiwitchet Cottage, Hall Road, Outwell, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire,
PE14 8PE

All material for the 2009 issue of the Yearbook of The Heather Society
must reach the Editor not later than 31 October 2008.
Articles may be submitted by e-mail.

Editor of Yearbook
Dr. E. Charles Nelson
Tippitiwitchet Cottage, Hall Road, Outwell
Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE14 8PE
Tel: 01945 774 077
e-mail: admin@heathersociety.org.uk

Design & typesetting: David Small.

DATESOF RUBLICATION OF YEARBOOKS
Heathers 1: 10 March 2004
Heathers 2: 26 February 2005
Heathers 3: 1 March 2006
Heathers 4: 3 August 2007

ae ) R. Canovan, E. Petterssen, G. Osti, S. Kay & E. C. Nelson fediturt 44

CONTENTS

Frontispiece Klokkelieng (H. Berg) |

Frank Odie, Yell for heathers. :

_ John Griffiths A heather hybridizer’s Yorkshire garden. 9

J: Allen Hall Erica maderensis in England. : 47
~ Susie Kay io Visiting the African Queen — with the assistance

, of satellites. 26

Ella May Wulff The creation of a public heather garden: Cot-
tage Grove Community Hospital, Oregon, 29
i U.S.A.
Eels, A. me jer Old painting wieuiemnenial in ituek oe a 39
Cape Erica species. 7

, ea: re - Northern Spain, July 2007. | ee,
Hendrieke Berg’s hand-coloured copper engravings.
zie)
PROCEEDINGS OF THE HEATHER Society 2007 .
Armold Stow Stepping down.

_ Judy Wiksten Pembrokeshire, ahem, is Waleat (Annual Gathering
re and 35'* Annual Conference, Haverfordwest, 56
Pembrokeshire, 7-10 September 2007) a

Se BOOK REVIEWS & RECENT PUBLICATIONS 65 —
: be ae to International uk of heather names — Vill ee |

Website: www.heathersociety.org |