| YEAR BOOK 4 =
| HEATHER
p SOCIETY

1964

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MONLAIVE
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OUMERIESSHIRE

THE HEATHER SOCIETY

President:
Mr. FRED J. CHAPPLE

Vice Presidents:
Dr. RONALD GRAY,
Mr. B. C. WESTALL, C.B.E.

Chairman:
Sr JOHN CHARRINGTON

Secretary & Treasurer:
Mrs. C. I. MACLEOD

Yew Trees, Horley Row, Horley, Surrey
Telephone: Horley 2080

Assistant Secretary:
Miss I. KELLAM-SMITH

Committee:
|\Miss L. E. M. CorDING Mk. H. C. ELLIs Mr. A. PATERSON
‘Mrs. P. HARPER Mr. J. F. Letts Mr. P. S. PATRICK
‘Mrs. M. PALMER Mr. H. L. NICHOLSON Mr. F. J. STEVENS
Editor:

‘|iMr. P. S. PATRICK, 30 Chancellors Park, Hassocks, Sussex, to whom
all communications relating to the Year Book should be sent.

CONTENTS
REPORT BY THE SECRETARY & TREASURER _...... fa
SPECIES OF HEATHER IN BRITAIN D. McClintock ...... 4

ON MAKING A HEATHER GARDEN

Sir John Charrington, Kent oe aes -10 ~
Dr. Ronald Gray, Surrey ue 12
HEATHERS FOR FOLIAGE EFFECT HT Be Be 167

HEATHERS WILL GROW ON CHALK B.G. London ..... 17

GROWING HEATHER IN THE EASTERN UNITED
STATES: Mrs Bb. Deutsch) 2. 3. Ce 19

WHERE HAVE THEY COME FROM? P.S. Patrick. _...... 23

CALLUNA GIANTIANA — A REMARKABLE EPISODE

OF FIFTY YEARS AGO F.J. Chapple wn. 32
HEATHS ON THE MOUNTAINS J. E. Crewe-Brown 35
TWELVE FAVOURITE VARIETIES .... o a 36
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS... — : 37

| QUESTIONS ANDANSWERS . ss, 39
LIST OK MEMBERS... © = 7 ee | Al

We are grateful to our advertisers for their patronage; please support
them.

5/- to non-members
Printed by Mac Hardy & Company Ltd., 8-12 Lant Street, Southwark, S.E.1
Published by the Heather Society - Copyright is reserved.

IN MEMORIAM

Lt.-Colonel Donald MacLeod, D.S.0., M.C.
Hon. Treasurer of The Heather Society

The Chairman of the Society, Sir John Char-
rington, writes:—

Lt.-Colonel Donald MacLeod, who was the
first Treasurer of the Heather Society, died
after a long illness in July, 1964.

; Colonel MacLeod had a distinguished
# career in the Army. After leaving Hailey-
f bury in 1903, he entered the R.M.C.
Sandhurst, and was gazetted to the Prince
of Ae (North Staffordshire) Regiment in 1904. In the

- First World War he served in the Mediterranean and

Egyptian Expeditionary Forces. Promoted to Brevet rank,
he earned the D.S.O. and M.C., as well as being four times

_ Mentioned in Despatches. He also received the Serbian

Order of the White Eagle.

In the Second World War he served in the Adjutant
General’s Department at the War Office.

When the Heather Society was in process of formation
I asked Colonel MacLeod if he would take on the task
of the Hon. Secretary. This he declined, on the grounds of
indifferent health, but he did me a great service in sugges-
ting that Mrs. MacLeod be appointed Secretary, in his place.

We have been prevented from seeing much of him in the
past 12 months, but he was able to join the party that
visited Wisley in 1963. His wise, kindly nature endeared
him to all who knew him; those of us who were fortunate
to have served with him, even for so short a time, have

_ experienced a real sense of loss in his passing.

2 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

REPORT BY THE SECRETARY & TREASURER

It is gratifying to be able to report that the Membership of the Society
remains steady, 45 new members having joined since the date of the
Annual General Meeting as against twenty-seven who have been lost
through death, resignation or subscription lapse. With this Year
Book we are sending out Bankers’ Orders to facilitate your future
payments. If you are not already covered by a Banker’s Order, and
would like to avail yourself of one, please fill it in and return it to me
(my address is on the front page) so that I may note it before I forward
it to your bank.

The Audited Accounts were passed at the Annual General Meeting
but as they were not circulated they are published in this Year Book.

The Annual General Meeting was held as before in the Royal

Horticultural Society’s Lecture Room on March 25th, 1964. This was
perhaps an unfortunate date, being too near Easter, which resulted in a
poor attendance, but those who came had the pleasure of seeing the
collection of colour-slides that members have donated and of hearing
Mr. P. S. Patrick’s most interesting anecdotes of the origin of many
of our best-known heathers.

As we promised, members have been arranged in their Zones, and
a few we are glad to know have taken advantage of “knowing their
neighbours” and have established contact on their own. This contact
is far easier to establish in Zone 7, the London and South East, as has
been exemplified in the two garden-parties to which these members
were invited, by Dr. Gray of Hindhead, Surrey on August 25th and
Sir John Charrington of Crockham Hill, Kent on September 4th. How
glad we should be to know that other public-spirited members with
large and lovely heather gardens in other areas would organise such
gatherings! It cannot all be done by the Society’s Secretary in the
South East, but the hopes we had of obtaining local Branch Secretaries
who would undertake to organise social activities in their own zones
have so far not materialised. This I am afraid means that the Year Book
and occasional circulars are all that the majority of our members can ~
receive. However, we were pleased with the reception given to the
duplicated “Enquiry Letters” that we sent out early in the year. Most
of the enquiries were dealt with by Mr. Patrick and a selection of the
most interesting of them appears elsewhere in this Year Book. Te
ease the burden on Mr. Patrick and in order to cope with some of the
really abstruse questions that we may from time to time be asked, we

YEAR BOOK 1964 3

approached a number of people whom we have described as our
“Scientific Panel” who will be honorary members of the Society and
who will give us help on the occasions that may arise.

A small number of members went to Windsor Great Park on
August 19th and the natural setting of the heathers in a former gravel
pit, giving undulations and enchanting vistas makes us urge those of
you who did not accompany us to make the pilgrimage there on your
own. After a somewhat long walk from the Obelisk to beyond the Polo
Grounds what you will find will amply reward you and we feel that the
work done by the enthusiastic young gardener in charge of the heather
garden should be better known.

Now to the high-light of this report: the staging of a Heather Display
by members of the Committee at the R.H.S. Fortnightly Show on
September 15th-16th. This was really quite delightful as we hope the
accompanying photograph will show and it won us the award of a
Lindiey medal. We were pleased to find that many of our members,
some of whom we had not seen before, made the effort to come to this
display and made themselves known to those of us who were manning
the stand. Only one member wrote for an Affiliation entrance ticket;
we had Chelsea Flower Show tickets to spare and none were asked for
for the Great Autumn Show. We realise that many of our members
are Fellows of the R.H.S., but to those who are not, we say, do make
use of these tickets. You could easily recover the cost of your annual
subscription to the Heather Society if you did. And the R.H.S. Journal
is yours on loan for the asking. We should of course appreciate a
stamped addressed envelope for forwarding the tickets.

Before I come to the end of my report, I have yet to refer to the
accompanying notice of an invitation for next year. It just shows what
a good example can do! One of our members who accepted Sir John
Charrington’s invitation so enjoyed it that he thought out what he in
turn could do, for his fellow-members.

This invitation which will entail the giving away of cuttings is most
generous. It could well be extended, for our U.S.A. members are very
anxious to acquire a greater range of heathers than at present exists in
that country. I have been sent a list of some of the desired varieties and
permits can be arranged. If any of our British members feel that this is
a contribution they could make, would they please contact me for
further information.

C. I. MAcLEop,
Secretary and Treasurer.

4 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

Notes on British Heaths

1. Species of Heather in Britain
by David McClintock, Platt, Kent

HERE are no less than nine species of heaths and

heather to be found wild in Britain, all represented in
our gardens, two of which have arrived and settled down in
recent years only. In this article I shall deal only with the
species, leaving the hybrids and other variations to be
discussed subsequently. There is, of course, some doubt
what constitutes “‘heathers’’, but here I am also excluding
such similar and welcome plants as Daboecia, Andromeda
and Phyllodoce, which will be covered separately.

Three species are far and away more abundant than ali
the remainder put together. Perhaps supremely the plant
known as heather has been Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull in
Latin since 1808, the only species of its very distinct genus.
It may still be found, however, referred to under its older
names of Erica vulgaris (which dates back, not of course as
a valid binomial, to 1552) or Calluna Erica. Ling, a word of
Scandinavian origin, is also widely used in Britain. It is one
of the great gregarious plants, growing mostly in drier
places, but managing in bogs, too, spread over most of
Europe, except the Balkans, from the North Cape and
actually reaching Tangier. It is considered introduced and
naturalised, usually in small patches, in the East of the
U.S.A. and Canada. There is a tradition that early
emigrants from Scotland to Nova Scotia brought heather
beds with them which eventually were discarded and the
- seeds grew. Another story is that this plant reached there
in packing around imported trees. But there is nothing to
stop both stories being true.

YEAR BOOK 1964 5

Next commonest is the earlier-flowering Bell heather,
Erica cinerea (L.), a plant of even drier places, which may
also clothe entire hillsides and cliffs most colourfully. It is
to be found in certain places where Ling is rare or absent,
for example on Herm in the Channel Islands. Its general
distribution is over Western Europe just reaching Norway
and Madeira; it is a real rarity for example in North-West
Germany. It is said to have been naturalised on Nantucket
Island, Massachusetts, for some time.

The softer Cross-leaved heath FE. Tetralix (L.) prefers
wetter places, being the typical heath of bogs. Bogs being
for ever shrinking in our islands, there are wide areas where
it is not now to be seen, but it is still common in the wilder
parts. It has a rather more extensive distribution in Europe
than Bell heather, more to the north and east, from North
Norway to North Spain and it is similarly, but less
restrictedly, in America.

_ Dorset heath, E. ciliaris (L.), was in fact first definitely
recorded from Cornwall in 1828 and only 5 years later
from Dorset, where it is actually much more plentiful.
There is also a small quantity in Devon, which was found in
1911. The early history of this shrub in Britain is a bit of a
puzzle, and is set out in my book, due out in 1965. It, too,
prefers moist soil, but can certainly grow in very dry places.
It is a plant of the western seaboard of Europe from
Holiand down to Tangier.

Mackay’s heath, E. Mackaiana Bab. (the correct name,
as opposed to E. Mackayii, which was proposed earlier but
published later), has been known from a small area of
better drained parts of boggy ground in S.W. Connemara
for over 130 years. Reports of it from places such as
Co. Cork or Achill Sound are erroneous. It was found by a
local schoolmaster and his friend and forwarded to
J. T. Mackay (1775-1862), the Scot, then Curator of the

6 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

Botanic Garden at Ballsbridge, Dublin. He sent specimens
on in February, 1836, to Robert Brown at the British
Museum, asking if Brown considered it a “‘genuine species”
or a variety of Erica cinerea. One hundred years later
examination of the anatomy of its leaf and certain other
detailed characters suggested it did indeed deserve to be
regarded as distinct. It has, however, often been considered
a subspecies or variety of E. Tetralix and is still to be found
listed as E. Tetralix Mackaiana: in fact, it looks quite like a
crowded Cross-leaved heath.

Yet another interpretation has been to call it a hybrid
between this and Dorset heath. The plant is sterile: it sets
no seed in Ireland, but probably does so in Spain. In fact
30% of its pollen is good and a further 40% to 50%
degenerate, but still swelled out. This is enough to create
hybrids, but not to produce seed—it could be the plant is
self-incompatible and certainly there is evidence that all
there is of it in its two localities is connected and has spread
vegetatively. Hence its marked gregariousness and lack of
variation. But Darwin wrote: “Pure species have, of course,
their organs of reproduction in a perfect condition’; and
this particular hybrid is well known as E£. Watsoni and
looks quite different. Furthermore, if Mackay’s heath were
this hybrid there is the difficulty that the existence of Dorset
heath in Ireland has never been satisfactorily proved—
which does not mean it never did grow there, leaving this
heath as evidence. There are actually specimens of it, from
where Mackay’s heath grows, collected on Monday,
September 14th, 1846, and again in August, 1852, the
latter from J. H. Balfour (1808-84), then Professor of
Botany at Edinburgh, who described it as plentiful. There
~ are also other records of it, for example from Co. Clare.
But none of these has ever been proved or refound, even by
Professor Balfour when he searched again, and they are

YEAR BOOK 1964 7

nowadays generally discredited, except by the R.HLS.
Dictionary of Gardening. But the plant is not unlikely to
occur and it would not be at all the first time that discredited
records have proved after all to be correct.

By coincidence this heath was discovered in the North of
Spain in the same summer, 1834, as in Ireland. Here it is
Tetralix that hardly grows anywhere near it. It is a member
of that most interesting Lusitanian group of plants to be
found only in Ireland and the Iberian peninsula. For over a
century Connemara and the Asturian Mountains were the
only parts of the world where it was known. However, in
1910 a heath had been collected in Donegal, which remained
unrecognised for 40 years. It then inspired a visit to its
locality, which showed that E. Mackaiana was locally
abundant round most of a lake.

Ireland has another heath specially its own. It is called
Mediterranean heath, although it is not known near the
Mediterranean. True, there is a specimen from near
Valencia, but no-one has refound it anywhere near there.
It is actually a very rare plant indeed in France, rare in
North Spain, and very scarce even in Portugal. Although it
is not plentiful in Ireland, it flourishes well enough in its
scattered localities in Connemara and Co. Mayo; and there
is much more of it in Ireland than on the Continent.

It has recently been shown that E. mediterranea is not
the right name for this plant and this belongs to E. carnea:
for one thing Linnaean mediterranea specifically came from
Austria. It was suggested, therefore, that the right name
was E. purpurascens. However, this too proved to belong
to carnea. The old question was then re-raised how distinct
the two species are—the differences are slight and inconstant,
and Bentham and Hooker lumped them. In gardens we can
be pretty sure, carnea being the low plant from high places
and mediterranea the high plant from low places. This

8 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

difficulty over the name was discovered directly as a result
of this article and I have to go to press before it has been
settled what the valid name and status of these well-known
garden plants are. Mediterranea may well be reckoned
no more than a sub-species of carnea, and actually even the
name carnea is a bit uncertain. This is where E. hibernica,
a name created by Syme in 1866, may come in. It was
actually meant to distinguish the Irish from the Continental
plant, but none of the distinctions really held good,
although the name has passed widely into nurserymen’s
catalogues.

Cornish heath, E. vagans L. (which the French floras
absurdly translate literally as Bruyére vagabonde), is to be
found on the Goonhilly Downs, north of the Lizard Point
in Cornwall, where it is abundant and often dominant, and
has been known since the visit of John Ray in 1667. There
is also a small amount of it, about 50 yards square, all white
flowered, on a remote hillside in Co. Fermanagh, where it
was found in 1937. I think I am not the only person who
has been daunted by the unattractive tramp across the vast
still unexplored moors actually to see it in situ. It is,
however, anybody’s guess how long this patch has been
there and what its status is. Earlier there had been un-
substantiated records of it from Ireland, for example from
Waterford in 1836. It is yet another Lusitanian plant; and
is naturalised very rarely in North America.

Both this and the previous plant are in fact to be seen
elsewhere in Britain quite readily seeding themselves, and
their seedlings, sometimes from intentional plantings, have
prospered—for example, I have seen Mediterranean heath
on a Cornish roadside and Cornish heath on a bleak moor
‘ above Matlock. |

Two other heaths have been planted and spread, or spread
from gardens. One of these, Spanish heath, E. /usitanica

i

YEAR BOOK 1964 9

Rudolphi (once E. codonodes), from Portugal and Spain
indeed, was known since the last century to grow in some
quantity on Lytchett Heath in Dorset, but I am told it was
all but eradicated by fire not long ago. It had seeded itself
out of a garden. It is also to be seen on railway banks in
Cornwall. It must have been planted in clumps along
certain stretches, but these clumps have clearly been there a
considerable time and are well established and have progeny
of all ages around them. It was recorded as established on
railway banks in Finistere, across the Channel, 80 years ago.
On the other hand, there is a note in the Herbarium at the
Natural History Museum which says it is cultivated in
nurseries in Cornwall for supplying to Scotland as the
famous White Heather and it is also exported to America,
etc., for Burns’ Night. This somehow does not ring quite
true, and any way the plant is hardly in white flower on
January 25th.

The other recently established heath is Corsican heath,
E. terminalis, Salisb., which has also been called E. stricta,
from the south-western Mediterranean. It has been known
on the Magilligan Dunes in North Ireland for over 40 years.
When I saw it there in 1956, there was a wide area thickly
covered with fine plants, fully naturalised. There have been
ephemeral records of this heath elsewhere and a definite one
from Glengariff, but I do not think even this has been
rediscovered.

I am most grateful for help readily given me in this and
subsequent articles, which together form a whole, by
Dr. R. Good, Dr. Ronald Gray, Mr. Will Ingwersen, Mr.

Jj. F. Letts, Mr. C. R. Lancaster of Hillier & Sons, Mr. J.

E. Lousley, Mr. F. J. Stevens of Maxwell and Beale, and

| Dr. D. A. Webb; and by Mr. R. Ross of the Natural History
| Museum, who wrestled with the nomenclature of the Med-
_ iterranean heath.

10 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

On making a Heather Garden 1.
Sir John Charrington, Crockham Hill, Kent.

AVING had to leave our home at Charlwood because

of the development of Gatwick Airport, we moved to

Crockham Hill in 1957. The garden at High Quarry had had

three gardeners looking after it before the last war and was

therefore much more than we could cope with, with the help
of only one gardener.

One day when we were wondering what to do with some
of the superfluous flower beds, my wife said she thought
heathers might be the answer as, before they were very old
they covered the ground and prevented weeds growing.

About that time we noticed an advertisement of a well-
known nurseryman offering to advise on the lay-out of a
Heather Garden, so we engaged his services, and after a
visit he declared our soil and situation admirable for the
purpose. We received a plan for the garden in due course,
and in October, 1960, 23 dozen heathers arrived. I well
remember that day, for it was raining hard all the afternoon,
but by about 5.30 my wife and I, though wet through, had
planted the lot.

I still have the invoice, and as it may interest some to
know what varieties I was sent, here is the list:

3 dozen each of: Calluna “‘H. E. Beale”; Serlei aurea;

“County Wicklow’; “Ruth Sparkes’.

2 dozen each of: E. cinerea “Golden Drop”. E. carnea
Vivellii; “Springwood White’.

1 dozen each of: £. Tetralix alba mollis; “Con
Underwood”. hybrida “Silberschmelze”. £. vagans
““Lyonesse’’; ““Mrs. D. F. Maxwell’.

At that time the names and varieties meant nothing

whatever to me, but during the following Spring when the

YEAR BOOK 1964 11

carneas started blooming, I became fascinated and my
enthusiasm has increased ever since. I then started ordering
a dozen of this and a dozen of that variety, mainly because
the catalogue descriptions appealed to me. By degrees,
more and more of the garden was turned over to heathers
and now I must have about 3,000.

Of the original lot which were sent me I think I have come
to like “County Wicklow”, Vivellii and “‘Silberschmelze”’
the best. “Springwood” is, of course, a wonderful plant
with charming blooms, but I am not fond of the way it
grows along the ground, collecting fallen leaves in the
autumn, and making clipping difficult later in the Spring.
I have come to have a particular liking for the upstanding
and shapely plants such as C.v.Alportii and cupraea.

I am fortunate in having suitable soil (Rhododendrons
grow wild near the house) but I add peat when planting
anything that likes it. Apart from any other reason, I like
to feel that a good surround of peat helps to keep the roots
cool and damp in a hot, dry season. We have a large,
sharply sloping Rock Garden, and by degrees this also is
being planted with heathers.

I find on the edges of the rocks large numbers of seedling
heather plants, and I am proposing in the autumn to collect
as many of these little plants as I can (and there will be
hundreds of them) and bed them out in a spare part of the
Kitchen Garden. My hope is, of course, that I may one
day find I have something new; there is no harm in being
optimistic! I do realise the temptation to imagine that a
new variety of one’s own raising is good; in fact, one has
to make sure, first of all, that it is really better than any
other similar one, already in commerce.

Finally, I have never regretted anything less than my
nurseryman friend’s first visit to this garden, for heathers
provide me with so much interest and delight all through

12 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

the year. I confess that I get tired of clipping large numbers
of plants, in awkward positions, after they have flowered. |
I am confused, too, by the conflicting evidence of the
experts, for whilst our President, in his admirable book,
“The Heather Garden’, stresses the importance of trimming,
Mr. A. T. Johnson in “Hardy Heaths” assures us that it is
quite unnecessary! I have an uneasy feeling that Mr. Chapple

is right. :
DAME

On making a Heather Garden 2.
Dr. Ronald Gray, Hindhead, Surrey

HAVE been asked by the Editor of our Heather Society’s

*“Year Book’’ to write an article “On Making a Heather
Garden’. As he implies, it is rather a hackneyed subject,
as so many articles of this nature have appeared in the
Horticultural Press, in garden articles of the weekly and
daily papers and the Nurserymen’s catalogues.

Writing to members with their established heather
gardens and with more knowledge than I possess, I can
imagine what an undergraduate would feel lecturing to a
class of professors, or, like the proverbial young man, who
insisted on teaching his grandmother how to deal with eggs.

As a request has been made to me to write on this subject,
I can only presume that our Editor knows of members who
have joined the Society because they have heard of the
charm of heather gardens and, wishing to start one of their
own, but, having no experience, hope to gain some
knowledge from the Heather Society.

Let me begin by putting them in the right mood with the
following quotation, vicariously patting them on their backs:

YEAR BOOK 1964 13

“The heaths do not intoxicate the floral voluptuary and
they have no wild extravagance of colour, few have perfume
and their form is of the simplest; it is to the cool critical
vision of the well ordered mind that they appeal.’ (R. H.
Compton, “Journal of S. African Botany’’.)

I have never made a Heather Garden! About 50 years
ago I bought a house situated in some four acres of heath-
land. The flora of the property consisted largely of a dense
growth of Calluna vulgaris (ling, heath, heather), Erica
cinerea (Bell heather), E. Tetralix (Cross-leaved heath) and
a small quantity of E. vagans (Cornish heath), the last,
obviously, introduced by a previous owner. The family
Ericaceae was represented by a dense growth of Vaccinium
myrtillus (Bilberry, Whortleberry) and the usual concomitant
flora from other families one meets with in wild heather-
lands, Bracken, Birches, Hollies, Furze, Brooms, etc. The
problem arose, what could be done with this land. Could
it be spoilt? Yes, very easily, by the introduction of flowers
not in keeping with this beautiful tract of wild nature.
Could it be improved? I thought so, but only by planting
flora in keeping with the site and mostly, therefore,
members of the family Ericaceae, and especially the genera
Erica and Calluna, the true heaths or heathers (the English
words seem to be used indiscriminately). The species in
these genera in the Western Hemisphere are limited to some
dozen members and in the latter to only one. S. Africa is
the home of the genus Erica with some 500 species. I have
tried growing one or two of these in the open, but they have
not survived the winters with me. There are, however,
among the hardy heaths numerous varieties, time of
flowering, colour of flowers, varieties of foliage, copper,
gold, light green, deep green, grey green, silver, and height of
growth from an inch to a tree heath 10 feet, or so.

I repeat I have not made a heather garden: that was

14 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

provided for me ready made by nature in the land I bought.
I have boldly tried to add to the beauty, possibly with some
success. My soil is ideal for this purpose. I have very —
occasionally added some peat where sand seemed to
predominate. No chemical manures have been used.
Fifteen years ago I sold my house and moved to a site some
three-quarters of a mile distant. In this ground I found
exactly the same flora with the exception of Erica Tetralix.
I moved at least one representative of each species and
variety to this new property. The majority of the Ericaceae
being hermaphrodite, all that was required was to move
them one by one, instead of two by two as on a previous
historic occasion. From these specimens I had the choice
of three methods of propagation: by seed, by layering and
by cuttings. With seed the true species should be certain,
but not the colour as cross fertilization may occur with a
paler variety of the same species. Secondly, by layering, a
slower process and adopted by only a few Nurserymen.
Thirdly, by cuttings, the one most usually adopted, and the
one I have employed in trying to improve the natural beauty
of the new property in which I have lived for the past
14 years.

In that time a few new varieties have been discovered
which I have obtained by the fourth method, viz., purchase.

Before planning a Heather Garden remember that, with
few exceptions, Erica carnea being one, the family Ericaceae
demand an acid soil. If in doubt test the pH.

The ideal Heather Garden should be a wild garden under
control, It should, therefore, if space allows, be separated
from the cultivated garden, so that, as far as possible, the
latter should be out of sight when visiting the former. —
If “a weed is any plant growing where somebody intends
it shan’t” then to me a rose near a heather garden is a
weed!

YEAR BOOK 1964 15

The ideal position for a heather garden is a gentle slope
facing South. The best view, in toto, is obtained from a
position at the bottom of the slope.

Apart from one or two main paths, some 2 to 24 feet
wide, the walks through the heather garden should be
narrow, 18 inches, or so, in width. These should be in
irregular curves, such as sheep make on a hill side.

When possible the heather slope should be bounded on
the North and East by evergreen trees, coniferous for
choice.

Dig spaces for the cultivated heaths and enlarge them as
stocks increase and make them irregular in shape, letting
patches of winter flowering plants be interspersed with
summer flowering species and varieties. Preserve some
patches of the original wild flora of Ericaceae.

The charm of a heather garden consists not only in the
plants when in flower. There is beauty all the year round
from the many varieties of colour in the foliage. A few
so-called tree heaths interspersed among those of lower
growth improve the effect. :

Erica arborea alpina is hardy, but E. arborea, E. Veitchii,
E. lusitanica can only survive a 63 winter if in a very
sheltered position. E. australis and its variety ““Mr. Robert”
may be cut back to ground level, but often shoot again in
the spring.

I grow, mostly from seed, nearly all the members of the
family Ericaceae listed in the British flora, especially the
beautiful Daboeciae, and some exotic species. As there are no
hardy heaths with yellow flowers I allow a limited amount
of the late flowering Ulex minor (dwarf gorse) to grow in
my heather garden, and I encourage the brooms.

I am asked if I keep the plants going by top dressings
at frequent renewals. Some Callunas and Ericas make
rapid growth and unless clipped as soon as convenient after

16 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

flowering are apt to get leggy. Some renewals and the
planting of bare patches will be required in my garden on

a small scale this winter, and top dressed.
(illustration facing page 24)

IG rR
Heathers for Foliage Effect

In the issue of ““Amateur Gardening”’ of December 21st, 1963, appeared
a letter from Mr. F. J. Chapple with the above heading. Part of it is
reproduced here with the kind permission of Mr. Chapple, and the
Editor of “Amateur Gardening’’.

FTER adopting my suggestion the Royal Horticultural
Society is now judging heathers for foliage effect as
distinct from the bloom, so it is gratifying to see that some
awards have been made. Recently I have been advised by
the Society that “‘Calluna Gold Haze” (A.M. 1961 .. .bloom)
has this year received a First Class Certificate on the merit
of its foliage which the plant undoubtedly deserves.
This is a great triumph as “Gold Haze’ is the only heather
ever to have the double recognition, an A.M. for its
flowers and a F.C.C. for its leaves.

*

Lord Horder had a lovely garden on chalk some three miles from
Petersfield, Surrey. He had on his estate a quantity of leaf-mould; this
was spread to some depth on the surface of the chalk and planted with
Rhododendrons, which flourished in this soil.

During a severe drought the plants were watered with the local hard

water and this killed the lot!
(Dr. RONALD GRAY, Hindhead)

The Heaths do not intoxicate the floral voluptuary, they have no wild
extravagance of colour, few of them have perfume and their form is of
the simplest; it is to the cool critical vision of the well-ordered mind
that they appeal.
y (PROFESSOR R. H. CoMPTON. Professor of Botany,

Cape Town University)

YEAR BOOK 1964 17

Heathers will grow on chalk.
B. G. London, High Wycombe, Bucks.

Y HOME is on the Chilterns, and is built on the

side of a chalk hill; the back garden faces roughly

South and slopes from East to West, thus obtaining maxi-
mum sun. I shifted chalk and soil to form a level lawn
which provided a sloping cliff some 30 yards long, varying
in height from 4 to 8 feet, divided into two parts by steps.
I embedded rough slabs of concrete to two-thirds of their
width into the cliffs which formed a reasonable rock bank.

The bank was planted with shrubs and rock plants,
including two Erica stricta and two E. hybrida “‘Silber-
schmelze”’, which like everything else were planted with a
little peat round their roots; they bloomed in 1958. About
this time I borrowed ““The Heather Garden’’ from the local
library, and this, and the beauty of my carneas decided me
to make a heather garden on half of the rock bank.
-I increased my stock by buying more carneas, ‘‘Mrs.
Doncaster’, “King George’, “Ruby Glow’, the two
“Springwoods” and Vivellii. The heather bug had now
really bitten me!

While in Dorset in June I dug out clumps of wild
Tetralix, cinerea and vulgaris with foot-square cubes of
peaty leafmould enclosing their roots, as advised in ““The
Heather Garden’’, and replanted them in the rock bank
when we got home. And from the heather country near
Bagshot I fetched sacks of peaty sand. Using pockets of
this, in 1959 I planted E. arborea alpina, hybrida ““Dawn’’,
and williamsiana, vagans grandiflora and “D. F. Maxwell”,
and Calluna v. “‘H. E. Beale’.

Now the rock plants have almost all been replaced by
heathers, and the original hybrida “Silberschmelze’’ are

18 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

now large rounded clumps 3 feet across, and obviously
are very happy in the chalk, and root freely when layered.
I now have 31 varieties, which include four Tree Heathers,
and carnea, Tetralix, cinerea, hybrida, mediterranea, vagans
and vulgaris varieties, all flourishing. As the bank is visible
from the road when the carneas are in bloom people often
stop to look, and occasionally will ask if they may come in
for a closer view. I usually layer a few shoots with bent
match sticks so they often go away delighted with a potted
specimen.

Of the tree heathers, Veitchii is the only one that did not
suffer in the 1963 winter, but although 2 feet high at the
time of writing (April, 1964) has not yet bloomed. E. australis
““Riverslea’’, in my opinion the loveliest of them all,
suffered most, being splintered to the ground. However, it
grew in an amazing fashion last summer, and now is a mass
of buds.

Although most of the carneas obviously like the chalk,
E. darleyensis suffers from chlorosis and improves beyond
recognition in peaty sand. Some of the plants, e.g. E. carnea
“Ruby Glow” and the vagans varieties, though a bit sickly
at first, seemed to become acclimatised after a time and are
now healthy plants.

So you see with a bit of care, heathers will grow on chalk.

x

Just let us peep for a moment at a bright patch in relief to the back-
ground of our moorland country. Here we see the lively green shades
of the hybrid, E.williamsiana whose foliage from October to March
is as fresh as watercress in a clear running stream. As a winter study
in contrast to the sombre upland, a bed of williamsiana plants seems
to have dropped from some distant Eden, reflecting the light and shade
of beautiful colours, as though sunshine was always breaking into every
Jittle plant, and summertime, instead of being far away, seems to be

very near.
F. J. CHAPPLE (The Heather Garden)

YEAR BOOK 1964 19

Growing Heather in the Eastern
United States.

Mrs. Esther Deutsch, Long Island, U.S.A.

HOUGH the American continent is fortunate in

possessing a wealth of Ericaceous plants, no heathers
are indigenous to this vast country, approximately 30 times
as large as the British Isles. In climate, the range is from
sub-tropical to almost sub-arctic, though, naturally,
I cannot speak for all these areas. The Pacific Northwest
comes closest to the English climate, cool and moist: there
all the British flora thrive and grow luxuriantly.

Although Calluna vulgaris, Erica cinerea and Erica
Tetralix have naturalized themselves on parts of sandy
dunes along the Atlantic seaboard, they seem to prefer the
milder areas such as Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard.

Heathers, on the whole, are little grown and little known,
though they have long been treasured by fine gardeners, to
the general public they are known only as a legend, and to
some extent as a cut flower, available only at florists. The
cut heather usually sold here is a form of tender Cape heath,
and occasionally, Erica mediterranea.

As a garden plant, only Erica carnea has proven able to
adapt itself over a large area: this is the only heath grown
to any extent commercially, though Erica darleyensis is also
well known. These two seem to acclimatise themselves
readily and grow with ease in many soils and climates.
In our Eastern United States, where winters may see
temperatures as low as —15 degrees F. and no snow cover,
the winter winds seem to do a great deal of damage to most
heathers. Here only Erica carnea, Tetralix, Calluna vulgaris,
and to some extent Erica vagans are considered hardy,

20 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

though without some light covering in the winter even these
will burn. However, outside of this problem, heathers |
thrive and grow beautifully, flowering for many months,
and are in every way a wonderful garden ornament.
Strangely enough, it is very difficult to purchase plants of
named varieties, except from a mere handful of nurserymen,
as the average nursery carries none: on rare occasions one
can see plants of Erica carnea, and nowhere are the large
selection of varieties carried by English specialists available
here. Despite all this, heather is becoming increasingly
popular and people have been asking for the plant, so I feel
sure that many more nurserymen will grow heathers in the
near future.

Since our list of varieties is so much more limited, it
might be of interest to note which varieties are the most
popular here. I would say that Calluna v. “Tib’’ heads the
list; it is one of the hardiest and blooms heavily from June
to frost, and though it is a full double, the very attractive
pinkish white faded flowers are retained until cut off,
_ almost a full year. I have no doubt that climate, especially
temperature, plays some role in flower colour. For
instance, in cool weather, some of the pinks are much
deeper in tone. Here “Tib’’ is a rich deep purple, although
British texts call it crimson. Searlei aurea is a very vigorous,
colourful heather which is deservedly popular, since it
presents a beautiful picture the year round. “‘H. E. Beale”
in full flower, is a most magnificent sight, unrivalled in
the length of its bloom stalks and in the prodigious
profusion of flower. However, after the first flush of
bloom, the faded brown blooms are in sharp contrast to the
frosty pink of the part of the stalk still in bloom, and since
the faded flowers drop off the stem, it presents a somewhat
ragged appearance until new growth starts. In “Tib’,
this contrast is much less marked, thus making it more

YEAR BOOK 1964 21

effective over a considerably longer period of time. “J. H.
Hamilton” is another exquisite variety, the lovely, clear
rose flowers have no trace of lavender, and the plant is as
tough and hardy as any. My only complaint might be that
it does not flower over as long a period as some. “Mrs.
Ronald Gray” is the most popular of the dwarf varieties.

It is a brilliant green, flowers lavishly, and makes a stunning
plant. One of the problems we encounter with all the very
dense, low, and mound forming heathers is that they seem
subject to browning if watered excessively. I have been
unsuccessful in trying to determine the cause of this. I can
only assume that it is a fungus of some sort, which is
activated by high heat and humidity. Since the British
climate is considerably cooler than ours, and since this
problem does not arise in cool weather, I can only presume
that it does not occur in English gardens; Foxii nana,
“Sister Anne’, and ‘Molecule’? seem to suffer equally.
Experiments with spraying with a wettable sulphur this
past summer seem to have arrested the condition, but once
a plant has browned, it rarely recovers completely. To
continue with the list of varieties, ““County Wicklow’’ is
a top notch heather; it has the largest flower of any of the
doubles. Flora plena is a very pretty plant, the colour a
deeper pink than ““H.E. Beale’’, but not nearly as generous
of bloom. Alba plena here is almost strictly a foliage plant,
the blossoms being very few in number; I suppose our hot,
dry summers are the reason for this. I have seen pictures of
this covered with bloom, but after growing it for many years,
I can only say I wish we could flower it here. The relatively
little grown Hammondii grows beautifully, with long sprays
of pure white flowers, and the foliage a distinctive ferny
green. Alba, pyramidalis, and “‘Mair’s Variety” are fine
white heathers that perform very well here. Only four
varieties of Erica vagans are grown here: “Mrs. D. F.

22 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

Maxwell’, “St. Keverne’’, ““Lyonesse’’, and nana, the first —
is the only one grown to any great extent. They are all
magnificent, but unfortunately, the stems are prone to split
with our winter extremes. However, I have found that this
is one which will come back with much profuse growth
from ground level. This Calluna will not do, unless severely
pruned.

We do not grow nearly as many kinds of Erica carnea
as you do. The most popular are “Springwood White” and
“Pink”, “King George’, and Vivelli. Erica Tetralix is the
hardiest and most reliable of all heathers. The white form
makes a very attractive plant.

Though we grow far fewer varieties, there do seem to be
some that have originated here, though most came originally
from England. However, it seems, that over the years, there
has been much duplication, and at the present time, there
is some confusion in nomenclature. I do hope that The
Heather Society will assume the burden of straightening
out this confusion before it becomes much greater. For
instance, it seems to many, that aurea and cuprea are
indistinguishable. Are they? I have acquired several plants
from different sources called cuprea and the only one that
fits the description is identical to aurea. We heather lovers
on this side of the Atlantic are looking forward to much
help that only The Heather Society could give. I shall also
look forward, and hope, in the near future, to be able to
report much increased interest in heather growing, so much
so, that we will be able to form a “daughter chapter’’ here
to The Heather Society of Great Britain.

YEAR BOOK 1964 23

Where have they come from?
P. S. Patrick, Hassocks, Sussex

HAVE been asked many times where the heather varieties

we have in our gardens came from; are they natural
hybrids, or garden hybrids, or are they “sports’’, where the
shoot of a plant, in the wild or in a garden, suddenly threw
flowers of an entirely different shade to the parent? The
answer is that all three reasons apply, though the majority
have come from chance seedlings or wild “sports’’. The
bell-shaped flowers of Ericas with their narrow apertures
rely mostly on bees (and to a lesser extent on moths and other
insects) for pollination, whereas the open florets of Calluna
are to a great extent air pollinated. So it must be a very long
chance that anything out of the ordinary should be born,
still less that it should ever be found. But that is really
another story, which I do not wish to go into here.

These notes give the origin of a few of the varieties of
our native heathers. I should be most grateful if readers
who know where others began their garden life would
let me know, as the Society is anxious to have such a record.
I have cribbed some of my information from our President’s
book ““The Heather Garden’’, and Mr. A. T. Johnson’s book
‘““Hardy Heathers’, to both of whom I acknowledge my
debt.

I begin with the species that has the greatest number of
varieties.

CALLUNA

I wonder, for instance, if anyone now knows who Mr.
Alport was; it would be most interesting to know how,
when and where he got the variety named after him. The
early flowering variety that we know as C.y. Alportii
praecox was raised in Germany in 1938, and introduced

24 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

by Messrs. Arends, the well-known nurserymen of Wupper-
tal. The late Mr. C. W. Nix, who lived in Sussex and was
an authority on fruit, whilst walking over moors, noticed a
shoot on a plant of the same colour as Alportii but closer
and more upright in growth. He gave the cuttings to
Douglas Maxwell who raised a stock and named it after the
finder. David Eason and Edward Hoare also found sports,
on the Broadstone moors, rather like Alportii but distinct
enough to name them after the finders and put them in
Maxwell & Beale’s catalogue, for whom they worked.

“J. H. Hamilton’ too was connected with this firm, and
for some years was a partner. The lovely double pink
variety named after him was found on Mount Maughan
(I hope the spelling is correct) in Yorkshire; D. F. Maxwell
records he saw and fell in love with it some years before the
firm managed to persuade the finder to part with his stock.
Another one connected with the firm, through her husband,
was the lady popularly known as “Mrs. Pat’. On the moors
one day to give her dog a walk she noticed a dwarf plant
on which all the tips of the shoots were coral pink. She
dug it up with the point of her walking stick and it was
planted in the nursery trial bed. The next year the plant
showed no sign of the coral tips, but for some reason it
was not put on the bonfire as it should have been. But
every year since then (nearly 40 years ago) the shoot tips
have been coral-pink, though on some soils it shows very
little colour.

Another one that came from the same nursery is, of course, ~
C.y. “H. E. Beale’. This came to us as a dried up cutting
in the morning post, with a covering letter from a lady
- who said the previous day when picnicking in the New
Forest she had found a double-pink heather, and would we
please tell her if it was anything out of the ordinary. We saw
it was indeed “‘out of the ordinary’’, and carefully took off ©

hetc: Dr. Violet Gray

Through the heathers into the wood, in Dr. Ronald Gray's garden at
Hindhead, Surrey, visited by the Society, August, 1964

LLG RE:

LBL LILLIE:

J. E. Downward

Photo

1964

The Society's
Exhibit at the
R.H.S. Show,
Sept. I5th- 16th

"UOSDIAT

Yyllay “UOH{ ay, pun
4J91IO§ JDANIJNIIAO PF]
jodoy fo uoissimiad
dq paonposday

papmumog ‘J i01loyd

juay ‘dajyouasg
SapivsAg 1D
UapsDy) Aaya]
S UOSDIW Yllay

‘UoH ay

‘aBUDAL)

Mr. B. G. London's
Heather Bank,
High Wycombe
March, 1964

Photo: B. G. London

Je,
E.

hyb

car.

Silbersc
Vivellii.

hmelze

E? car

nea King George.

is,

ar

E. car.

borea alphina.

Mrs. Doncaster

E

carnea Spt

a

ingwood White.

E. terminalis.

E. Tetralix.

YEAR BOOK 1964 25

the three side shoots, each of about half-an-inch long, and
put them in a propagating frame. Two out of the three
rooted and from them the whole stock of this lovely variety
has sprung.

Another Calluna that originated from Germany is the
lovely double-white C.v.alba plena. Mr. B. Ruys of the
huge Royal Moerheim Nurseries, Dedemsvaart, Holland,
told Douglas Maxwell “‘it was found by a Mr. Lamken in a
marsh in 1934, the finder gave it to Messrs. Brum, Nursery-
men of Westerstede, who introduced it.” This does not tally
with Mr. Chapple’s version, recorded in “The Heather
Garden” that it was found, in Germany, by an English
climber, but in any event Mr. Ruys sold the stock to Maxwell
& Beale who introduced it into this country. It could be
that both versions are correct, and that two people found the
same plant and had cuttings from it, which may have
occurred with the varieties “Camla”’ and “‘County Wicklow”,

which are now thought to be one and the same.

Once when Maxwell & Beale were exhibiting in the Flower
Section of the Dublin Horse Show a lady visitor to the
show promised cuttings of a double Calluna she had found
on the Wicklow Mountains; the lady agreed with Maxwell
the variety should be named “County Wicklow’’. In due
time a stock was raised and put on the market. About the
same time the late Mr. Millard, of ““Camla’’, East Grinstead,
introduced a similar variety that he named after his house.
Mr. Millard had connections with Ireland, and spent some
time there, but before Maxwell could verify his supposition
Mr. Millard died, but Maxwell always thought the original
stock for both varieties came from the same plant.

C.y.hirsuta compacta was originally known as “Sister
Anne”, which was later changed to the botanical name
it now holds. It was collected, about 1929, on The Lizard,
Cornwall, by the late Miss A. Mosely, and introduced by

26 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

Messrs. W. E. Th. Ingwersen Ltd. “It looked more like an
Alpine ‘cushion plant’”’ was how Miss Moseley described
“Sister Anne”’ when she found it. Other varieties that came
from the same district are ““Kynance”’ and ‘Mullion’, both
found on the edge of the cliffs at the coves of the same
names; on the edge of cliffs in Devon Dr. Gray found the
variety he named after his wife, “Mrs. Ronald Gray”;
describing the finding of this plant Dr. Gray says: “‘wisely
it decided some thousands of years ago that a recumbent
position gave it the best chance of survival’’. Over a course
of years plants on cliff tops have been dwarfed by the severity
of the winds and salt spray, and many have remained so
prostrate that it was difficult not to mistake them for
prostrate Thyme when approaching them. We quite expected
rooted cuttings of ““Kynance”’ and “Mullion” would grow
to the normal height of a Cal/luna when given nursery condi-
tions, as so many plants do but it was not so; the prostrate
characteristic has remained constant.

The late Mr. Thomas Smith of Newry, Northern Ireland,
gave an interesting account of how he found what is now
known as C.y.minima “Smith’s Variety.” Walking on a
mountain near Newry he noticed a plant of C.vulgaris that
had a queer branched growth halfway up the plant; it
suggested to him the Witches Broom that is often found on
birch trees, the swollen stem from which springs short
twiggy growths giving a “besom-like’’ appearance, so he
took the branch back with him and struck cuttings from
the “Witches Broom’ sprigs. It would be interesting to
know if this lovely mossy little heath is the result of a gall
attack on the parent plant.

The first double Calluna to be recorded was C.v.flore
plena, found in Cornwall in the 19th century by the gardener
to Sir Charles Lemon, and grown for many years in the
famous gardens at Carclew, but it was not until 1929 that |

YEAR BOOK 1964 27

it was recognised by the Royal Horticultural Society with
an Award of Merit. At the time it was introduced it was said
of it “Sweeter resemblance of wreaths of roses cannot be
conceived.”

ERICA VAGANS ... The wandering heath

There are two places in Cornwall where this heath grows
wild, and up to the middle 1920s, apart from one man,
little seems to have been done to find out about the species,
though the type and two or three varieties, like rosea and
grandiflora, and alba which had small flower heads of a
rather dingy white were grown. The one man who had found
something worth having was the late Mr. P. D. Williams
who lived on the moor behind The Lizard at St. Keverne,
and as far back as 1914 he received an Award of Merit
from the Royal Horticultural Society for E. vagans “‘St.
Keverne’’, a plant of which he had found growing outside
his garden; the name has since been changed to E.v.kever-
nensis. Mr. Williams also found E.v.kevernensis alba on the
same moor though the name is misleading as it is in no
way a counterpart of the lovely pink variety.

Another of Mr. Williams’ finds was the vagans x Tetralix
cross which he named E.hybrida williamsiana; he told me
he actually found the plant nestling against his garden wall,
and it was many years before another of this particular
cross was found. Like nearly all the owners of the lovely
Cornish gardens of those days, Mr. Williams was interested
in taller shrubs than heathers, and it was not till 1925 that
a thorough search of the Goonhilly Downs was made. Then
Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell went there on their honeymoon;
it was heather time, and one of their first finds, of any
consequence, was E.y. “Mrs. D. F. Maxwell’.

Maxwell has written about it; “The finding of this heather
we considered a reward of diligence, for after searching the

28 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

downs for days, without finding any heather of sufficient
distinction to be worth while collecting, we had, at the time,
turned our attention towards the absorbing if somewhat
material occupation of gathering mushrooms, when my
wife spotted a patch of heather of an unusual colour on a
bank not far from where she was standing’. Two days
after that they found “‘Lyonesse”’ on the same moor, and
on the same holiday the two prostrate Callunas, ““Kynance”’
and “‘Mullion.”’ In the material sense, a holiday that was
well worth while; in the human sense, the beginning of a
wonderful partnership that lasted for nearly 40 years.

ERICA CILIARIS ... The Dorset Heath

The main station of the Dorset Heath was within easy
reach of Broadstone, and in my time with Maxwell and
Beale we spent very many days on the Great Heath where it
grows. There are less varieties of this species than of any
other, and the first one Maxwell found he regretted naming
E.cil.hybrida as it is undoubtedly one of the many ciliaris x
Tetralix hybrids that we later found on the same moor.
Douglas Maxwell and I both claim to be the first to find
the best white variety ““Stoborough.”’ The plant I found,
about six-feet from the main road, was a poor straggly
specimen but it had a few cuttings on it and that was enough
to establish the stock.

The best variety, maweana, did not come from Dorset
at all but was found in Portugal as far back as 1882 by a
Mr. George Maw. It has the largest flowers of any hardy
heath, and appears to be even hardier than the type.

' SOME HYBRID HEATHS

The majority of the summer flowering varieties are of
ciliaris x Tetralix origin, and used to be found in large
numbers on the Great Heath in Dorset. They are very

YEAR BOOK 1964 29

proliferous in their blooming which covers a period really
from June to November.

One of the first hybrids Douglas Maxwell found on the

Great Heath he named after his father, ““H. Maxwell’? who
was probably responsible for sparking off an interest in
heathers in his son’s mind, or so the son always said.
“Dawn’’ and ““Gwen’’ were two of Beale’s nieces, and spent
their long holidays in the nursery, and “F. White’ was
employed there. Watsonii was found near Truro in Cornwall,
and is said to be the only ciliaris x Tetralix representative
from that county, and has quite recently been found growing
wild in the same spot.
_ “Gwavas” and williamsiana are both vagans x Tetralix
crosses, though A. T. Johnson is inclined to think ciliaris
_ had a hand in the inception of the former; they were both
found near The Lizard in Cornwall, the former by Miss
Gertrude Waterer, the latter by Mr. P. D. Williams. While
-“Gwavas” is prostrate in habit, williamsiana is upright.

Amongst the winter-flowering hybrids, Mr. A. T. Johnson
once found a seedling growing between E.med.hibernica and
E.carnea ““Ruby Glow’’ so that it may be regarded as a
cross between these two heaths; he liked it when it eventually
flowered, and named it after himself, ““Arthur Johnson’’; it
has been said this variety is one of the most important
additions to the heath family for some years. E.med.
darleyensis came as a chance seedling in the famous Darley
Dale Nurseries of James Smith and Sons, about the begin-
ning of the century, and a deeper flowered edition was found
in Maxwell and Beale’s nursery and named “George
Rendall”. Now we have a white sport from darleyensis
in “Silberschmelze”’, raised and distributed by a German
firm.

ERICA TETRALIX . . . The Cross leaved heath
As the name of Maxwell will always be linked with

30 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

E.vagans, and the name of Sparkes with Calluna vulgaris,
so surely will the name of Underwood be linked with
E.Tetralix, for on the Surrey heaths near his nursery this
species grows in abundance, and Mr. Underwood has
introduced some lovely varieties into our gardens.

The story of the finding of ““Con Underwood”’ is interest-
ing; very briefly, it begins in 1938 with the finding of a very
scrubby plant with a few small crimson flowers on it, and no
cuttings. So the plant was dug up and planted in the nursery,
where it lived but made no growth in 1939. Then the war
came, and the nursery was closed for six years; the plant
was rediscovered in 1945 struggling for existence amongst
the weeds, but its true worth was apparent, and a stock
was raised.

At another time, an old gentleman was taking his dog
for a walk over the same heath, saw a nice looking heather,
dug it up with his stick and planted it in his garden. It
lived, but he was not able to do anything with it, so he
made a present of it to Mr. Underwood, who named it
“L. E. Underwood” which we know as an outstanding
variety, with what the catalogues call “‘terra-cotta flowers”.

ERICA CINEREA ... The Fine leaved heath

Maxwell and Beale’s nursery was in the middle of dry
moorland that was almost entirely E.cinerea for some
distance on every side, and whenever one walked across the
moor in heather time it was comparatively easy to find
variations from the type, usually in the colour of the flower,
but often of the foliage. We were young and, at first, very
apt to think many of our finds were bound to be out-of-the-

-ordinary, and we always hoped that one day we should find
THE one that would startle the Heather World. Wesoon came ~
to realise that few were good enough to even have a name
put to them, so we were more careful what we brought in.

YEAR BOOK 1964 31

Though none of our cinereas won the jack-pot we did pretty
well, as the following list of some of our finds of those days
over 30 years ago, will show; they all came off our own moor,
certainly within a mile of the nursery, and where a name is
given it happens to be the name of the finder, and Maxwell
found the other three. Here they are... Apple Blossom;
C. D. Eason; C. G. Best; Domino; Frances; Golden Hue;
G. Osmond; John Eason; P. S. Patrick; Victoria, and the
list has been increased of late years with such varieties as
“Joyce Burfitt” and “Velvet Night’.

We are indebted to the late Miss Gertrude Waterer of

Penzance for many fine varieties of E.cinerea for she was
so very particular to only give names to those of her finds
which she deemed worthy of naming. They all appear to have
been found in Cornwall, and some have locational names
like “Eden Valley” (surely one of the best of the varieties)
“Cripples Ease’, ““Gwinear’’, ““Mulfra’’, ““Ninnes’’, I wish
I had had the privilege of knowing the lady, and going
round her garden.
_ As I come to the end of this list, I am very conscious
how many other varieties there are that I might have
mentioned, but for the purpose of this far-too-long article
I have drawn almost entirely on my own recollections and
from notes left to me by my friend of 50 years, D. F. Maxwell.
So we can call this Part 1 . . . to be continued in our next,
perhaps.

*

I saw here what I never saw before, the bloom of the common heather
we wholly overlook but it was a very pretty thing; and here when the
plantations were made, and as they grew up, heath was left to grow on
the sides of the road in the plantation. The heath is not so much a
dwarf as we suppose. This is four feet high, and being in full bloom it
makes the prettiest border that can be imagined.

WILLIAM CossetT (on his ‘Rural Rides’ written on August 31st, 1823,
while at Tenterden. Kent).

By THE HEATHER SOCIETY

Calluna Giantiana — a remarkable episode —
of fifty years ago. |
F. J. Chapple, Port Erin, Isle of Man.

Y introduction to heather came in a rather unusual
way. I was a young man at the time, when an aunt,
one hundred per cent more fussy than any normal person.
invited me to go with her for a short holiday to the Lakes,
On a fair morning we were sauntering over moorland
(close to the road) when aunty spotted a heather of enor-
mous size; how it came to be so tall and fat I don’t just
know. Aunty calmly said: “I would like that plant for my
garden and I want you to dig it up for me—you will find a
spade in the carriage (Aunty was like that—she carried
tools around on her crazy botanical excursions).

I realized that to remove a heath which was probably a
seedling in the reign of Queen Victoria was going to be no
light task. After hitting boulders and what seemed to be a
small stone quarry for about half-an-hour I was not an
inch nearer even moving the thing from its deep seated
cavity.

Some workmen were repairing the road a short distance
away, so I enlisted their assistance. Two navvy-looking
hefty men set to work with pick and shovel. A few minutes
later the Fire Brigade returning from a call stopped to
see what was going on and out stepped several firemen who
stood around the plant and suspected that we were about to
set fire to the moor. Then quite unexpectedly the Mayor of |
a nearby town happened to be coming that way from a
. function and seeing a crowd of folk on the heath halted
the car, and came out to see what it was all about. He was
accompanied by the Lady Mayoress, the Town Clerk, a
pretty secretary, chauffeur and a yapping pup. By now we

YEAR BOOK 1964 33

had become quite a large party, and aunty, on spotting the
Mayor, greeted him with a wave of her parasol.

What she said to him and to the others is not repeated.
Suddenly and without warning “‘Calluna Giantiana” was
flung through space and with it showers of wet peat were
hurled on the spectators.

How I managed to get the brute back baffles memory.
Aunty went away again on the following day and upon
returning I was fairly on the carpet. The plant looked very
sick, it was all my fault if it should die; according to aunty
I had planted it in the wrong place, too near trees, had
given it no peat dressing, (we hadn’t a particle of peat about
the place), and I had failed to water it. (It was watered
every day.)

‘Just to think that J went to the trouble of getting the
plant myself from the moor and I brought it back all the
way from the Lakes. Some day, young man, I will show
you how to plant a heather.”

*

Every garden lover should read that fascinating book: ““Garden Shrubs
and their histories’ by Alice M. Coats, who writes: ““The reputation of
white heather as a luck-bringer is old in Scotland, but it seems to have
been unknown in the south until brought by Queen Victoria from
Balmoral. It is unusual in that the luck is transferable, and not limited
to the finder of the flower.” The author quotes from St. James’s
Gazette, July 22nd, 1885: “‘On great occasions the table of a Highland
chieftain would be poor indeed without its sprig of white heather .. .
and it is considered the height of hospitality to present it to the stranger
guest.’ There is a lot more in this book about Calluna and Erica which
should not be missed by those who are interested in heathers.

A dozen good reasons might be given by way of explaining our affection
for heaths. In the first place there is the peculiar fascination of their
flowers, foliage and habit of growth. They have a glamour about them,
a romance touched with that sense of the untamed moorlands, where
grouse are chuckling and curlews call, of wide spaces, sanctuaries of
untroubled and abiding peace. Born of our own soil, as most of the
heaths are, and associated with those aspects of nature which in the
midst of a distracted world, still seem as inviolate as a poem of Keats
they bring into our gardens something of their unspoiled purity’

A. T. JOHNSON (A Woodland Garden)

34 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

Heaths on the Mountains
J. E. Crewe - Brown, Florida, Transvaal, S. Africa

CANNOT recall when or where my interest in heaths

was first aroused. It certainly wasn’t in Adderley Street,
Cape Town, for when I first found myself being offered
blooms by the Malay flower sellers there, I had already
made the acquaintance of the Ervicas but had never seen
such colours and shapes.

I think it sprang to life sometime while, as schoolboy
mountaineers, we roamed the top of the Bosberg Mountains
in the Eastern Province. Heaths were rare there, so rare
that I recall only one variety, white and honey-scented,
that brushed our shoulders as we forged through it. It was
part of the mountain’s floral beauty which, surprisingly, we
appreciated, possibly because it was a fragment of nature’s
wider appeal; the lure of wild heights and far-off views for
youth freed from the limitations of the white-housed village
far below.

From those distant days, I have always felt a fascination
about heaths quite apart from their range of colour, their
profusion of blossom, and their hardiness, which I have
found also in certain other wild flowers. It is a fascination
readily felt but not easily explained by those who have a
love of the open country, for these plants have about them
something of the atmosphere of remote places where the
wind plays with the mountain grass and the hawk hovers
above the high buttresses. If one likes to tarry on mountain
tops drinking in the beauty of the panorama below, or to
- linger beside the bouldered stream, one is likely to find
heaths specially attractive and to see in the Nerine something
more than just a flower.

- Not long ago I stood on a gigantic saddleback, high above

YEAR BOOK 1964 35

wooded valleys and overlooking tumbling land masses
which stretch to the Lebombo Mountains. About me were
the scarlet heads of Erica cerinthoides. How they came to
be in that spot and where they came from are tantalizing
questions, worthy of study. They certainly had entrenched
themselves permanently. They clung with an easy air to
precipitous slopes that made me weak with apprehension
until the grand beauty of the place drove fear out. Not far
from where they grow men found rich gold deposits nearly
a century ago and worked them. They have since gone;
natural forest and bush have healed the untidy scars. Over
height and hollow nature once more reigns and under a
lichened krantz the scarlet flowers come and go as they
have doubtless done for centuries. How good to know it
was only gold men took from those green mountains!

The passage of the years has not changed my feelings
about heath. For me it ever brings the breath of the
‘countryside, the heights and the far-off view. It cannot do
this for all perhaps, but it does have inherent qualities
which enlist wider recognition. It has been said that
five hundred varieties of heath are to be found in South
Africa. I venture to suggest that not more than an average
of five kinds occur in possibly a thousand gardens. The
reason for this is difficult to understand. However, interest
is awakening, and it may be that soon heaths will come into
their own. I, for one, believe that this will happen.

at XA “4

36 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

Twelve Favourite Varieties

IFTEEN members living in different parts of the
British Isles were asked: “If you were able to have only

12 varieties of heather in your garden, which ones would
they be? It would be interesting to know the reasons for
your choice.”’

Twelve questionnaires were returned; the senders have
the Editor’s grateful thanks. :

Sixty-seven different varieties were chosen; even then
there were some notable absentees.

The votes cast were as follows :—

No. of Votes No. of Votes
CALLUNA VULGARIS: coccinea 7
H.E. Beale... 8 Hookstone White ae 1 each
Alportii 5 Startler
County Wicklow 3 Velvet Night J
alba plena 7
aurea
J. H. Hamilton 2 each Pees EOE 4
Robert Chapman alba” <. vi He 2
Ruth Sparkes atropurpurea oe 1 each
Serlei aurea bicolor
Barnett Anley
Soa ERICA HYBRIDA
Elsie Purnell Arthur Johnson \ ae 4 each
Hammondii - 1 each Silberschmelze 3
aurea folia Darleyensis .. eis 5
hibernica Dawn . on
incana George Rendall a 1
Peter Sparkes
Torulosa ERICA MEDITERRANEA
Brightness Sy Aa
ERICA CARNEA W. T. Rackliff Ais 1
Springwood White 8
King George .. 7 - ERICA TETRALIX
Vivellii .. : 5 alba mollis
Eileen Porter 2 each Con Underwood + .. 2 each
Ruby Glow Mackaiana plena
atroruba Mary Grace .. ae i
snow O 1 each
now Queen
Springwood Pink ae we s 1! 10
Pyonesse ae 3
t. Keverne : 3
esa) (OE EUETS Birch Glow TD Leach
Stoborough .. Viridi
hybrida \-. 1 each iridiflora
Maweana

TREE HEATHS
ERICA CINEREA arborea alpina .. ay 2

Golden Drop .. es 4 arborea “‘Gold Tips’’
C.D. Eason .. se 3 Australis 1 each
2 each codonodes

atrosanguinea ate
Eden Valley

YEAR BOOK 1964 37

The reasons given for the choice may fall, as one would
expect, into three classifications—time of flowering,
colour, habit of growth, in that order. We shall all be
surprised that some of our personal favourites have had
so few votes or have been omitted altogether, but surely
there will be few who, in this year of grace, will disagree
with the varieties that head the poll—Erica vagans ‘“‘Mrs.
D. F. Maxwell’, Calluna vulgaris ‘“‘H. E. Beale’, Erica
carnea “Springwood White’.

XP

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS

Mr. D. G. P. (Dumbartonshire)

Re my quest for Calluna v. alba seeds. These particular seeds appear
to be unobtainable but why should the purple variety and other Calluna
or Erica seeds be easily obtainable from seedsmen and a/ba not? One
must remember that we in Scotland look upon the common white
heather as a National emblem while our Sassenach friends look on it -
merely as the ling and stick to the rose.

Mr. W. D. (Edinburgh)

I would be interested in a Scottish Branch in a non-official capacity.
I would be pleased to advise any members visiting Scotland and would
even be pleased to take a party to the hills near Edinburgh if they were
staying here.

Mrs. D. M. (Dorset)

One question I should very much like to ask. Is it possible to have a
centre where the control of naming heathers can be kept? So many
“new” heathers are found, put on the market and in reality are well
known varieties. I have a heather which I found on our local moor some
years ago and as yet I have not found a similar colour although I have
searched diligently on Maxwell & Beale’s Nursery.

Mr. C. J. D. (London, S.W.19)

I should like to say how much I enjoyed the [1963] Year Book and
look forward to the next issue.

38 : THE HEATHER SOCIETY

As I am in business it is really impossible for me to attend visits or
meetings in ordinary working hours. I hope it may be possible to
arrange some from time to time on Saturdays or at and after 6 p.m. in
mid-week.

Mr. L. H. (Staffordshire)

Is there room in the rules of your Society to foster an interest in the
Vacciniums which like the heathers are an integral part of the moorland
pattern? We have a rare species found only on Cannock Chase and the
Weaver Hills in Staffordshire out of the whole of Europe. I have never
[in Staffordshire] come into contact with anyone else with any interest
{in heathers] except those people who are becoming alarmed at the
decline of the heather on the moorland of Cannock Chase. For many
years I have ploughed a lone furrow, making surveys, advising system-
atic burning, pointing out over the years the accelerating decline and
slow death of this most lovely wild shrub—but to little avail.

Mr. A. A. (Notts.)

May I add that if required, I would be prepared to take an active
part in the Society not only for the sake of office, but in order to make
a contribution along the lines of the Society’s aims.

Dr. S. B. C. (Dorset)

Apart from [my interest in] heathland and moorland, one of my
particular interests is the Dorset Heath (Erica ciliaris) and I feel that
many of the problems raised by this plant may well be answered by
people who grow it in their gardens.

Mr. D. M. (Kent)

Another matter that may interest you is that a certain very specia]
form of Bell Heather as I consider it, “‘schizopetala” was, so I find,
first found anywhere in the world on the Common at Crockham Hill
in 1897. It has been seen in various other places since but it is a rare
freak. Its added interest is that it is now learnedly considered to be one
of three similar plants, all with split corollas, alleged to be hybrids
between Ling and Bell Heather. Frankly, I do not believe this.

Mrs. J. M. Y. (New Zealand)

I have found heathers most suitable for growing in my rather
unprotected garden and have had year-round delight in them. An
_ article I wrote for the “‘N.Z. Gardener’ on my results with them has

awakened quite a lot of interest and my nurseryman tells me that he
has had phenomenal sales this year.

Mrs. R. H. A. (North Carolina)
I would especially like to join your society in the hope of getting more

YEAR BOOK 1964 39

varieties of seed. Very few people grow heather over here and it has
taken me several years to find out how to grow it in this climate which
varies from 100° in the summer to zero in the winter with long dry
periods in the summer. I have found that plants grown from seed will
(usually) produce (eventually) plants that survive the climate extremes.
I have quite a lot of trouble with transplanting heather seedlings. I do
hope your Year Book will have some articles on raising heathers from
seed.

Mrs. D. M. (Seattle)

I am an amateur heather enthusiast with about 120 species and
varieties of Calluna, Erica and Daboecia, perhaps 600 plants all told, on
my sandy hillside. There are only a few of us who “speak the language”
around Paget Sound and it would be of great interest to me at least to
see your annual bulletins and to know what is going on, heatherwise,
in Britain, the heather lover’s Mecca.

Your comments on and criticisms of the above selections

from letters will be welcome.
C.LM.

A Selection taken from Members’ Enquiry Letters.

: QO E.carnea Eileen Porter. In what part of the country does this bloom
from October to April as all the catalogues claim, in the North it is
in colour in March and is not a good doer. (SHEFFIELD, YORKS.)

A I have it recorded that in Clackmannanshire it was in flower in
October last year. Protect from the prevailing cold winds by
planting a wind break of taller heathers or other small shrubs and
as winter approaches top-dress with fine peat to a quarter of the
height of the heathers.

*

Q What can I do to eradicate (a) Sorrel which is unfortunately
enamoured of the peat dressing (b) A little couch. The least bit
seems to extend rapidly underground. Can one “wipe” it with
some systemic weed killer? (WRECCLESHAM, SURREY)

A No chemical that I can hear of will touch sorrel. I fear that hand
pulling is the only way, but tread round the heather plants after-
wards. This applies also to couch. Weed killer for couch must rout
be used on vacant ground.

*

Q From time to time I hawe applied gypsum to unplanted ground and
it has helped to break down the clay; would there be any objection
to digging it in between clumps of heathers ? (PINNER, MIDpDx.)

40

THE HEATHER SOCIETY

We have no personal information regarding gypsum but it would
probably be dangerous to use it on heather ground except perhaps
with carneas and mediterraneas.

*

I have heard that heathers require no feeding only peat. Is this
really so or would an occasional application of a fertiliser improve
growth and flowering?

Opinions differ. Some say that the danger of feeding heaths is that
they are apt to make too much growth and less flowers. Others
advocate mixing in powdered I.C.I. Plus with peat and watering it
in as a “‘pick-me-up”’ for tired heathers.

*

A plant of H. E. Beale planted in January 1962 flowered well in
1963 and now appears to be dead. In the case of Cal. tricolorifolia
small plants raised from cuttings appear to have failed. Can you
suggest a reason? (DUNCHURCH, WARWICKS.)

H. E. Beale: many people seem to have trouble with this lovely

variety. It certainly seems to need a lot of water in dry weather. In

pruning, do not cut below the flowering spike.

Tricolorifolia: Did you firm the young plants after any frost you

ey a had? They may have been lifted by frost, and frozen or
ried out.

*

What triggers off the flowering of Erica carnea varieties? The buds
of E.c. Springwood are formed and showing signs of colour in
October and look as though 10-14 days of good weather would
produce blossom, yet nothing happens till the latter half of January.
Is it a combination of daylight hours plus temperature or lengthen-
ing of daylight hours after the minimum period?

(NORTHWICH, CHESHIRE)

We were unable to suggest any answer to this question which the
questioner admitted was a difficult and rather specialised technical
one, posed by a chemist. Perhaps one of our readers may be able to
help.

*

We should like to be able to identify wild heathers. Is there a book
to help us, apart from “‘The Heather Garden’’?. (READING, BERKS.)

‘Wild Flowers in Colour’ (Penguin, 17/6d.) is very useful. It has
the pictures and descriptions of the three common species, C.
vulgaris, E. cinerea, E. Tetralix. E. vagans grows wild only in
Cornwall and E. ciliaris only in Cornwall and Dorset.

YEAR BOOK 1964 41

LIST OF MEMBERS
OCTOBER, 1964

Zone 1. Scotland

ABERCROMBIE, J. S., The Scottish White Heather Farm, Toward,
Dunoon.

Boyp, Mrs. D. E., 4 Bulloch Avenue, Giffnock, Renfrewshire.

CraAspik, D., 82 Inverleith Place, Edinburgh 3.

Davipson, Dr. J., Linton Muir, West Linton, Peebleshire.

Dosson, WM. S., 20 Barnshot Road, Colinton, Edinburgh 13.

Duncan, Lapy, Jordanstone, Alyth, Perthshire.

Hackett, A. C., Kevock Lea, Kevock Road, Lasswade, Midlothian.

Ketty, Lr.-Cot. H. A., Oliver & Hunter, Moniaive, Thornhill,
Dumfries.

L,YLe R., Delaney & Lyle, Grange Nursery, Alloa, Clackmannnanshire.

LYLE, N., Maryfield Nurseries, Leslie, Fife.

LEIPER, Mrs. I. M., Douchlage, Balfron Station, by Glasgow.

MacRoserrT, Mrs. HL, Durisdeer, Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire.

McIntosu, Miss M., The White Heather Farm, Tignabruaich, Argyll.

Marks, B. McK., 17 Banchory Avenue, Inchinnan, Renfrewshire.

Merry, Mrs. E., Phoineas, Beauly, Inverness-shire.

Montcomery, Brig. E. J., Kinlochruel, Colintraive, Argyll.

_Mowunsey, E. R., Rough Knowe, Barrhill Road, Dalbeattie.

PATERSON, G. D., Glen Dhualt, Cove, Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire.

PoNTON, J. R., The Gardens, Kirknewton, Midlothian.

Scott, T. M., Clonburn, Resaurie.

SHAND, W. A., St. Edmunds, Milngavie, Dumbartonshire.

Zone 2, Ireland

BiccerR, D. J., 159 Lone Moor Road, Londonderry, N. Ireland.

CoLviLL, Mrs., M. B., Cloghereen, Baily, Co. Dublin, Eire.

SLINGER, LESLIE S., The Slieve Donard Nursery Co., Newcastle, Co.
Down.

SmiTH, A. W., Agricultural Office, 52 High Street, Antrim.

Zone 3, Northern. (Northumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, Lan-
cashire, Cheshire, Lincolnshire, I.O.M.)

ARDRON, J. P., Fulwood Heights, Harrison Lane, Sheffield 10.
ASPLIN, J. W., Grey Walls, Boat Lane, Sprotborough, Doncaster.
BAKER CRESWELL, Miss K., Preston Tower, Chathill, Northumberland.
BICKERSTAFF, C. E., Dyffryn, 2c Norfolk Hill, Grenoside, Sheffield.
BREEZE, R. O., Summerfields, Beach Road, Port St. Mary, I.O.M.
Brook, D., N. Wales Rose and Turkey Farm, Wood Lane, Penyfford,
nr. Chester.
CAMPBELL, Mrs, F., Rothley Lake House, Morpeth, Northumberland.
CASSWELL, Mrs. it, The Gables, Horncastle Road, Woodhall-Spa,
incs

42 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

CHAPPLE, FRED. J., Mafeking, Bradda West Road, Port Erin, 1.0.M.

Dawson, J. O. H., Sutterby, Riding Mill, Northumberland.

EARLE, J., 346 Liverpool Road, Widnes, Lancs.

Ex.is, G. E., Ivy Cottage, Pedley Lane, Congleton, Cheshire.

Hamer, George M., Sunnymount Nursery, Glossop Road, Chisworth,
via Broadbottom, Hyde, Cheshire.

Harpin, D. A., Little Croft, Birkby Hall Road, Huddersfield, Yorks.

Hitt, M. A., 20 Green Walk, Timperley, Cheshire.

Homes, M., 6 Ashbourne Crescent, Bolton Lane, Bradford, Yorks.

HuGuHEs, Dr. P., Longsight House, Darton, nr. Barnsley, Yorks.

Hunt, F., 4 Lever Park, Horwich, nr. Bolton, Lancs.

KELLY, H., Ballaqueeney Lodge, Ballaquale Road, Douglas, I.0.M.

LESLIE, W., 403 Durdar Road, Carlisle.

MAcINTyRE, Mrs. C. M., The Cottage, Fontainebleau, Cranage,
Holmes Chapel, nr. Crewe.

NADEN, Mrs. A. M., 14 Ryles Park Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire.

NeEwsHaM, Miss V. M., 43 Carfield Avenue, Meersbrook, Sheffield 8.

Prew, H. C., 229 Chester Road, Hartford, Northwich, Cheshire.

Proctor, E., 48 Parkhead Road, Sheffield 2.

Scott, C. C., Highgate Cottage, Newton with Scales, Kirkham, Lancs.

SMALL, W. A. W., 51 High Street, Normanby, Middlesbrough, Yorks.

TAYLOR, K. T., 10 Richmond Close, Eccleston, St. Helens, Lancs.

TETLEY, Miss U., 2 Annesdale, Windermere, Westmorland.

WALKER, Dr. J. K., Green Rigg, Riding Mill, Northumberland.

Zone 4, Wales

Farmer, G. G., Bryn Du, Mynytho, Pwllheli, Caerns.

GRIFFITHS, Mayor R. L., Little Heath, Trearddur Bay, Anglesey.

JONES, Mrs. E. THORNTON-, Afallon, Glyngarth, Anglesey.

Owen, Mrs. E., Talrafon, Dolgelley, Merioneth.

PUDDLE, CHAS., Bodnant Gardens, Tal-y-cafn, Colwyn Bay, N. Wales,

WILLIAMS, GRIFFITH, Bryn Eithyn, Porthyfelin Road, Holyhead
Anglesey.

WILSON, T. KIRKPATRICK-, Cefn-y-coed, Glyngarth, Anglesey.

Zone 5, Midlands. (Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire,
Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Shropshire.)

ANNABEL, A., Springwood, Church Drive, Linby, Notts.

AsH, F., Folly Nook Lane, Ranskill, Retford, Notts.

Brammer, Mrs. M., Merrivale, Sheepwalk Lane, Fishpool, Mansfield,
Notts.

CANDLIN, Mrs., E. M., 22 Clevelands, Abingdon, Berks.

CHALLONER, T. A., New Leys, High Ash Farm, Meriden, nr. Coventry.

CHATTAWAY, J. F., 54 Northfield Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham 30.

COUGHLIN, Mrr.R., 17 Alvechurch Highway, LydiateAsh, Bromsgrove,
Worcs.

Grimson, Mrs. J., Penvaden, Southam Road, Dunchurch, nr. Rugby,
Warwicks.

GRIFFIN, D. P., Tinkers Halt, Ona Lane, Bradley Green, Redditch,
Worcs.

YEAR BOOK 1964 43

GrirFitus, V. L., Hillside, Noke, Oxford.

Hanson, F. D., 110 College Road, Moseley, Birmingham 13.

Hay, R. N., 7 High View Avenue, Keyworth, Noits.

Hiccs, L., Hill Crest, Batesway, Rugeley, Staffs.

Hutton, D. P., Eaves, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire.

JENNINGS, Mrs. A., 35 Fordbrook Lane, Pelsail, Walsall, Staffs.

Jounson, P. C., Beechfields, The Park, Leek, Staffs.

LAVENDER, J. J., Fairfield, Quarry Park Road, Pedmore, Worcs.

Lester, J. C., Furze Acre, Adbury Holt, Newtown, Newbury, Berks.

Leicu, R. C., Dromore, Cookham, Berks.

LIDDELL, LaDy, White Horse, Finchampstead, Berks.

Roserts, Mrs. E. S., Glenhurst, 121 Hadley Park Road, Leegomery,
Wellington, Shropshire.

RouGHAN, J. M., 27 Smith Street, Warwick, Warwickshire.

SAmpLe, Mrs. L. Priestcliff, Taddington, nr. Buxton, Derbyshire.

SIDDALL, J. MCN., Burston Hall, Burston, nr. Stafford.

Sitvig, WM., Heather Cottage, 216 Whitley Wood Lane, Reading,
Berks.

SPARKES, J., Beech Wood Nurseries, Beoley, Redditch, Worcs.

Turner, A. S., 167 Cole Vailey Road, Birmingham 28.

WarsaP, L. R., 251 Mansfield Road, Redhill, Arnold, Notts.

WILLiAMS, J. I., 9 Pedmore Court Road, Pedmore, Stourbridge, Worcs.

Yates, G., Crail House, Newstead Abbey Park, Linby, Nottingham.

Zone 6, Eastern. (Buckinghamshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertford-
shire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk).

BaiLey, Mrs. M. T., 32 Cassiobury Drive, Watford, Herts.

BARKER, C. F., The Pyghtle, Ardleigh, Colchester, Essex.

Bircu, Mrs. M. C., 11 Warren Heath Avenue, Ipswich, Suffolk.

Cooper, Mrs. A. I., 24 Westwick Gardens, Cranford, Hounslow, Middx.

Frick, L. P., 109 Cranborne Waye, Hayes, Middx.

Gi_mour, Dr. J., The University Botanic Gardens, Cambridge.

HaiGH, Mrs. G., Tollesburys, Stebbing, Dunmow, Essex.

Harper, Mrs. P., 29 The Uplands, Gerrards Cross, Bucks.

HENLEY, Mrs. M., Gustard Wood House, Wheathampstead, Herts.

HIGINSBOTHAM, Miss H., Leugars, Nightingale’s Lane, Chalfont St.

Giles, Bucks.

HuxTABLE, E. J., Willowmead, Fryerning Lane, Ingatestone, Essex.

Lonbon, B. G., 2 Adelaide Road, High Wycombe, Bucks.

Lowen, Mrs. J. E., 40 Priory Road, Bicknacre, Chelmsford, Essex.

MATHEws, Miss D. M., 51 Downs Avenue, Pinner, Middx.

McLEan, A. G., Calver Lodge, Frithwood Avenue, Northwood, Middx.

os a W., Bluebell Corner, Nightingale Lane, Chalfont St. Giles,
ucks.

oc. G., Heathlands, Doggetts Wood Close, Chalfont St. Giles,
ucks.

PARKES, Mrs. D., Longmead, London Road, Braintree, Essex.

ee Mrs. H. E. S8., Pepper Alley, High Beach, nr. Loughton,
SSEX.

PEDRICK, G. F., 9 Cedar Drive, Hatch End, Middx.

44 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

Prosio, Dr. F., Metcalfe Farm, Hedgerley, nr. Slough, Bucks.
WALLACE, AIR VICE-MARSHAL J. B., 3 Wakehams Hill, Pinner, Middx.
Woo ner, L. R., Vale Farm, Barnet, Herts.

Zone 7. (London and the South-East)

AISHER, R., Midwest, Seal, Sevenoaks, Kent.

BANGERT, Mrs. M., 2 Eyot Gardens, London, W.6.

BESSENT, P., Felbrigg, Glenesk Road, Eltham, S.E.9.

BirD, F. S., 6 Stone Buildings, Lincolns Inn, W.C.2.

BOWERMAN, Mr. & Mrs. A. H., Champs Hill, Coldwaltham, Pul-
borough, Sussex.

Brown, Mrs. C. R., Penn Cottage, 1 Downs Road, Seaford, Sussex.

BUNE & LAMBERT, THE Misses, 7 Osborne Road, Farnham, Surrey.

BurkKE, Dr. S. A., Orchard Cottage, Manor House Lane, Effingham,
Leatherhead, Surrey.

CHARRINGTON, SIR JOHN & Lapy, High Quarry, Crockham Hill,
nr. Edenbridge, Kent.

CHARRINGTON, Mrs. N. D., Dye House, Thursley, Godalming, Surrey.

CLARK, E. L., 43 The Avenue, Worcester Park, Surrey.

CockSHUTT, J. R., Stable Cottage, 72 Leopold Road, Wimbledon,
S.W.19.

CorRDING, Miss L. W. M., 72 South Audley Street, London, W.1.

CRANE, Mrs. P., Heather Croft, Chapel Road, Limpsfield, Surrey.

DEAVES, C. W., The Warren, Compton Way, Moor Park, Farnham,
Surrey.

DELL, M. R., 24 Bodenham Road, Folkestone, Kent.

DeELves, H. C., Enmore Cottage, Vicarage Road, East Sheen, S.W.14.

DICKENSON, C. G., 8 Windyridge Close, Wimbledon, S.W.19.

Docksey, K., 1 Tower Grove, Oatlands Drive, Weybridge, Surrey.

Doge, B., Borde Hill Gardens, Haywards Heath, Sussex.

Eis, H. C., Wedlake Letts & Birds, 6 Stone Buildings, Lincolns Inn,
W.C22.

Fitmore, Miss E. E. E., White Stacks, Walnut Tree Lane, Loose,
Maidstone, Kent.

GiLson, G, K., Robt. Haining Secondary School, Mytchett Place
Road, Ashvale, Aldershot, Surrey.

Inscu, C., 75 Hayes Road, Bromley, Kent.

GORDON LENNOX, REAR ADMIRAL A., Fishers Hill, Midhurst, Sussex.

Gray, Dr. & Dr. V., Southcote, Hindhead, Surrey.

HALE, H., Ashgarth, Hill Road, Haslemere, Surrey.

Harpy, GEN. SIR CAMPBELL, Bunch Lane House, Haslemere, Surrey.

Hicks, Dr. A. R. H.,.106 Balcombe Road, Horley, Surrey.

KELLAM-SMITH, Miss I., White Stacks, Walnut Tree Lane, Loose,
Maidstone, Kent.

Kina, Mrs. H., Spindlewood, Glebe Lane, Tilford, Farnham, Surrey.

KLEINWORT, Mrs. E. G., Heaselands, Haywards Heath, Sussex.

Lawson, Mrs. M., Little Chart, Toys Hill, Westerham, Kent.

Letts, Mr. & Mrs. J. F., The Farm Nurseries, Westwood Road,
Windlesham, Surrey.

McC.iintock, D., Bpucken Hill, Platt, Kent.

YEAR BOOK 1964 45

MacLeop, Mrs. C. I., Yew Trees, Horley Row, Horley, Surrey.

MARTIN, C. F., Woodpeckers, The Ridgewaye, Southborough,
Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

MiLts, F. L., 52 Woodcote Hurst, Epsom, Surrey.

Miisum, Mr. & Mrs. J. N., Grays, Tilford, Farnham, Surrey.

MITCHELL, T., Poundgate Cottage, Poundgate, Uckfield, Sussex.

Nasu, R. J., 94 Gosden Hill Road, Burpham, Guildford, Surrey.

NICHOLSON, H. L., Farm Cottage, Westcott Road, Dorking, Surrey.

PATERSON, A., 20 Wilcot Close, Bisley, Surrey.

Patrick, P. S., 30 Chancellors Park, Hassocks, Sussex.

Prxe, A. H., Blatchfeld, Blackheath, nr. Guildford, Surrey.

Preer, Mrs. E. B., 64 Weirdale Avenue, London, N.20.

Port, A. L., 9 Laurel Avenue, Englefield Green, Surrey.

PrimMAVESI, Mrs. A. M., 5 Denfield, Tower Hill, Dorking, Surrey.

RAYNER, J. N., Fairbourne, 28 The Rise, Sevenoaks, Kent.

RUSSELL, J. L., L. R. Russell & Co., Richmond Nurseries, Windlesham,
Surrey.

RYAN, Miss I. M. T., The Lithe, Sandy Lane, Reigate Heath, Surrey.

SANKEY, M., Gattens, Higher ‘Drive, Ockham Road South, East
Horsley, Surrey.

SHARLAND, WM., 8 Great Tower Street, London, E.C.3.

SmirH, Bric. C. H. R., Greenoge, Furze Hill, Seale, Farnham, Surrey.

Stevens, A. J., Little Twynax, 37 Burnt Hill, Wrecclesham, Farnham,

Surrey.

STEVENS, 1. M., 62 Bedford Gardens, London, W.8.

TIBBS, E. L. Carlisle, 19 Tilgate Common, Bletchingley, Surrey.

TREEN, S. J., August Field, Farley Green, nr Albury, Surrey.

TrEw, B. A. U., 9 Sylvester Avenue, Chislehurst, Kent.

WARING, R. T. T., Round Close, Sandy Lane, Cobham, Surrey.

WEIGALL, Bric. E. T., Cottage Hill, Rotherfield, Crowborough, Sussex.

WESTALL, B. C., Vaex End, Sharpthorne, Sussex.

WHITELEGG, GEO. G., The Nurseries, Knockholt, Sevenoaks, Kent.

WILLIAMS, G., Crockham House, Westerham, Kent.

WOOLVING, Miss I., 58 Canonbie Road, Forest Hill, S.E.23.

YOuLE, Mrs. J., 58 Grand Drive, Raynes Park, S.W.20.

Zone 8. Western. (Dorset, Devonshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Glouces-
tershire, Somerset, Cornwall.

Burritt, Miss J., Aldersyde Cottage, Middle Road, Lytchett Matravers,
Poole, Dorset.

CHAPMAN, Dr. S. B., The Nature Conservancy, Furzebrook Research
Station, Wareham, Dorset.

CHIVERS, Mrs. W. H., ‘Heatherwyn, 99 Kings Road, Fleet, Hants.

CLARK, R. S., 45 Downside Avenue, Bitterne, Southamp ton.

FELL, Miss K. M., Corra Cottage, 6 Middlehill Road: Colehill,
Wimborne, Dorset.

GARWOOD, L. C., Trevellan, St. Teath, Bodmin, Cornwall.

GOUGE, Mrs. K. E., Fenwynds, Wraxall, nr. Bristol.

GREENWOOD, Joel Bie Priory of Lady St. Mary, Wareham, Dorset.

KENNETT, Mrs. C., Stable Gates, Exton, Southampton.

46 THE HEATHER SOCIETY

Macingss, Mrs. D., 19 Hil! Park Road, Broadstone, Dorset.

McWILuiiaM, Mrs. A. O., 123 Dracena Avenue, Falmouth, Cornwall.

MEASHAM, R. J. R., Flat 2, 9 Cyprus Road, Exmouth, Devon.

Nostett, Miss L. H., Bryants, Curland, Taunton, Somerset.

PALMER, Mrs. M. F., 128 Clarendon Road, Broadstone, Dorset.

PRANCE, Mrs. D., Moorlands, Down Road, Tavistock, Devon.

PRIDE, THos. R., Chetwynd, 188 West End Road, Bitterne, Southamp-
ton.

ROBERTSON, J. C. F., Brookdene, 43 Cirencester Road, Cheltenham,
Glos.

RUSSELL, LT.-Cou. P. H. W., Little Kenwyn, Hewshott Lane, Liphook,
Hants.

Scott, A. J., Erica, The Quarry, Dursley, Glos.

SmiTH, L. W., White Cottage, Sherbrook Hill, Budleigh Salterton,
Devon.

STEVENS, F. J. & Mrs. C. Maxwell & Beale, Broadstone, Dorset.

TRELEAVEN, R. B., Rockmount, Dutson Road, Launceston, Cornwall.

Twyne_, Miss M. F., Bubbles, Lodge Hill Road, Wickham, Hants.

UNDERHILL, T. L., Private House, Dartington Hall, nr. Totnes, Devon.

Wuite, Mrs. J., Green Close, Harrowbeer Lane, Yelverton, Devon.

WILLIS, Miss D. E., c/o County Planning Dept., Upton Lane, Barnwood,
Glos.

OVERSEAS MEMBERS

Continent of Europe—Holland

VAN DuREN, W. S. M. Jan Van Nassaustraat 51, The Hague.

GROOTENDORST, HERMAN J., Acadia- burg, Colijnstraat 106, Boskoop.

Pror. H. J. VENEMA, Landbouwhogeschool, Wageningen.

GEMEENTELISKE BEPLANTINGEN, Bossen en Begraafplaatsen, Hoof-
straat I. Driebergen, Rijsenburg.

France
DE LAVAULX, Mme A., Parc Vatonne-Yvette, Gif-sur-Yvette, Seine et
Oise.

Spain
Ecay, J. PANIEGO, Rios Rosas 5-8a, Madrid.
VALLEJO, F. JOAQUIN Costa, 573, Madrid.

Germany
Brown, CAPT. R. G. ROONSTRASSE 14, 1 Berlin 37.

Istanbul
Warr, G. M., Foreign Office.

South Africa
CreweE-BrowNn, J. E., 51 Janet Street, Florida, Transvaal.

YEAR BOOK 1964 47

Canada

Hit, F., 2309 Marine Drive, West Vancouver, British Columbia.

MicHaup, F. H., Alpenglow Gardens, 13328 Trans-Canada HWY,
North Surrey, British Columbia.

Minc.ey, T. N.,, R.R.I., Penticton, British Columbia.

SALTER, A. F., P.O. Box 214, Cloverdale, British Columbia.

New Zealand
Youna, Mrs. J. M., Dundonald, Springhills, No. 6 Road, Invercargill.

U.S.A.

ALLEN, Mrs. H., Box 260, Rte I, Kernersville, North Carolina.

BUSWELL, CoL. L., Stillington Hall, Gloucester, Mass.

Byers, Mrs. C. E., 6202 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D.C.,

CLARKE, Dr. J. HAROLD, Pres. American Rhododendron Soc., Long
Beach, Washington.

COPELAND, HAROLD W., 77 Harding Lane, Chatham, Mass.

Corry, RAYMOND H., P.O. Box 221, Hyde Park, New York.

DeutscH, Mrs. EsTuer, Holly Hill Rare Plants, R.D.4 Straight Path,
Huntington, Long Island, New York.

FuLiLer, Henry R., 41 Sherwood Road, Easton, Conn.

GARDNER, BEN, Box 217, Gold Beach, Oregon.

Kirk, RusseELL D., 5707 2nd Street, S.E., Washington 31, D.C.

LIBRARY, RACHEL MCMaAstTers MILLER HUNT BOTANICAL, Carnegie
Inst. of Technology, Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Penn.

METHENY, Mrs. D., 2810 46th Ave. W., Seattle, Washington.

MULLIGAN, BRIAN O., Director, University of Washington Arboretum,
Seattle, Washington.

PETERSON, Mrs. J., 359 Lindsey Drive, Berwyn, Penn.

WALLACE, GERALD S., West Main Road, Batavia, New York.

AN INVITATION

A practical demonstration of Heather propagation is being planned
for a Saturday in late July or early August 1965 in the garden, near
Crowborough, of one of our keen amateurs, Mr. H. C. Ellis.
Members, under expert professional supervision will be instructed
on the various methods of propagation and will be assisted in taking
their own cuttings from plants there available—soil, peat and sand
being provided.

_ The intention is to stimulate the interests of amateurs in the reward-
ing and fascinating ways of increasing their heather garden.

Only a limited number of invitations can be issued and if Members
wish to receive one, it is desirable to apply early to the Secretary. The
garden abuts on Ashdown Forest and Members interested in wild
heathers will also have an opportunity of studying the wild Callunas,
E. Tetralix and E. Cinerea. to saa

Tea will be provided.

Two views of our Heather Show Garden

COMPLETE HANDBOOK ENCYCLOPADIA -

Over 260
* different varieties
* of HEATHERS
are planted in our
Show Garden and
Nurseries. The largest
collection of Hardy
Heaths and Heathers in
the world.

me LETTS

THE HEATHER
SPECIALIST
WINDLESHAM
SURREY

| SENT FOR ONLY 2/6 post free (1965 Edition)

OREyed Baer
Just Published

The
Heather

Garden
FRED J. CHAPPLE

In this completely revised edi-

tion of his well-known book,

Mr. Chapple, who has been

growing heathers for over 30

- years, passes on his extensive
knowledgein avery practical manner. His notes on the origins
of the species and varieties will prove valuable to the hybridi-
zer and interesting to the heather enthusiast.

58 photographs 30s.

W. H. & L. COLLINGRIDGE LTD.
2-10 TAVISTOCK STREET, LONDON, W.C.2

HEATHERS—

We grow over 70 varieties of Heathers in quantity. Our
descriptive list of these can be seen in our 84 page Cata-
logue which also contains a wide range of all the most
attractive and worthwhile Trees, Shrubs, Climbing Plants,
Roses, etc., and we would be pleased to send a copy of
this catalogue on request.

Visitors are at all times invited to view the growing plants.

Our Garden Centre is also proving of great interest to
our many visitors as it contains a wide range of plants
in containers which are suitable for planting out at any
time of the year.

L. R. RUSSELL, LTD.,

Richmond Nurseries, London Road (A.30)
Windlesham, Surrey

You need

SEDGE PEAT proou~~ “-
_ for successful Or Pies

in all parts of the garden
- LAWNS. - SHRUBS & RBs

For fine grass and turf, HUMULL-a2 : ROSE ANG

superfine peat,
provides a perfect
base prior to sow-
“Ing -or turfing or
may be used as an
organic top dréss-
ing to promote fine
grass. growth on
established lawns.

In £ cwt. packs 16/-

GREENHOUSES

noon Seed and Potting COMPOST

Aspects?
oo ee

SELECTED SEDGE &.

The Peat based,
loarniess Compost
that is made to a
nonvarying form-
ula, encourages
germination and
root development,
whilst reducing
the risk of failure
by “damping off”,

fn Cartons 016 and 4/6 and bushel 13/6

FISONS HORTICULTURE LIMITED
FELIMSTOWE, SUFFOLK

HARVEST HOUSE,

in ae 1/9, 3/-, 8/9, 13/6,

GARDE '
Rich granwiare Peat
for «he improves
meant of all soils.
Dig in before plan-
ting, reke in to
surface to obtain 3
fine eilth for
sowing,

Write for our Descriptive
Catalogue of

ALL-THE-YEAR-ROUND
HARDY
HEATHERS

With other peat-loving subjects
Aliso FLOWERING SHRUBS
FULL CULTURAL NOTES
& OTHER INFORMATION

Cultural Notes are packed
with every plant sent out
from this Nursery

MAXWELL & BEALE LIMITED
BROADSTONE, DORSET "Git. om)

Directors * F. J. STEVENS, C. A. STEVENS
alse NAKED CROSS NURSERY: ; ee
CORFE MULLEN, WIMBORNE, DORSET (>

Telephone: BROADSTONE. 683 roke