THE HEATHER SOCIETY President: MR FRED J. CHAPPLE Vice-Presidents: Mrs RONALD GRAY Mrs DAvID METHENY Mr J. P. ARDRON Mr HAROLD COPELAND Mr DAvip MCCLINTOCK Mr P. S. PATRICK Chairman: SiR JOHN CHARRINGTON Secretary and Treasurer: Mrs C. I. MACLEOD Yew Trees, Horley Row, Horley, Surrey Tel: Horley 2080 Committee: Mrs A. H. BOWERMAN Mr A. H. BOWERMAN Mrs M. PALMER Mr B. G. LONDON Mer H. C. ELLIs MR G. MITCHELL Mr H. L. NICHOLSON MR F. J. STEVENS Ex officio: as above. Editor: Mr P. S. PATRICK, c/o The Secretary (address as above) to whom all communications relating to the Year Book should be sent. © Advertising Manager: MR B. G. LONDON CONTENTS THE EDITOR THE SECRETARY/TREASURER’S REPORT SOME NOTES FROM THE CHAIRMAN AN ANONYMOUS READER OF FORTY YEARS AGO A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY OF HEATHERS D. McClintock THE HEATHER REGISTRATION AUTHORITY .. ERICA MULTIFLORA Mrs Ronald Gray ACROSS THE ATLANTIC Mrs P. Harper .. HARLOW CAR: LOOKING AHEAD J. P. Ardron GROWING HEATHERS AS A HOBBY JH. Hale .. HEATHERS, GLASS AND IGNORANCE J. R. Tyson HEATHERS IN NORTH CAROLINA Mrs H. Allen PLANT PATENTS DABOECIA CANTABRICA AT HOME D. A. Richards DEVIL’S SAFFRON Mrs P. Kimber .. NETHERLANDS NOTE UH. L. Nicholson IS IT CORRECTLY NAMED? W.L. Lead — MID-SUMMER MADNESS. B. R. Malin HEATHERS AND_ROSES Anzon. THE CHANGING GRIP ON SPADES (Reprint) LIST OF MEMBERS Printed by the Ditchling Press Ltd, Hassocks, Sussex, and published ~ by The Heather Society. Copyright is reserved. YEAR BOOK 1970 1 From the Editor I shall chiefly remember 1969 as the year when I spent the whole of the heather season in a hospital bed. Consequently I have been dependent on others to know what has been happening in the heather world, and am doubly grateful for the help I have had in the preparation of this Year Book. After a major operation in the spring Mrs MacLeod had herself spent some months in hospital, and when she finally returned home movement was both painful and difficult for a long period. Despite the physical handicap and the fact that her own section increases year by year, Mrs MacLeod has done much of the Editor’s work for him; Mr B. G. London has also helped by again acting as Advertisement Manager. To them, and the Committee for the backing they have given me, my most grateful thanks. The thanks of the Society are due to our advertisers, to whom please give your support. In the history of the Society, 1969 may well be remembered as the year in which A Guide to the Naming of Plants, with special reference to Heathers was published. We owe the inception and writing of it to Mr David McClintock, helped in the design and printing, he tells me, by some of his staff. The idea for such a publication was suggested to the Committee by Mr McClintock, who won over any ‘doubting Thomases’ there may have been to the usefulness of such a book, so that finally we heartily endorsed it. Now, after a remarkably short time it has appeared in a most pleasing form. The grateful thanks of the Society are indeed due to Mr McClintock. When I looked through the proofs I wished it could be abridged, and said so to the author. Now that I have my copy I have changed my mind. ‘Comprehensive’ is the only word to describe the contents, for there are 41 items of botanical questions asked and answered, ‘A Commentary on the Names of our Hardy Heathers’ (no less than 30 species and hybrids are listed), there are sections on summer and winter hybrids, and the correct spelling and naming of species and cultivars, for many of which we have seen some weird names given in the past. 2 THE HEATHER SOCIETY As stated in the Introduction, the booklet ‘seeks to set out in simple terms the chief principles on which the correct naming of plants is based’; it has appeared at a most appropriate time as we, the Heather Society, are now the International Registration Authority for garden heathers. What this really means to us is fully explained on page 15 of this issue, where full details are given. To quote the author © of that article, this ‘is both an honour and a duty, should widen our usefulness and benefit everyone’. This booklet should be a necessary companion to all, amateur and professional, who grow heathers or write about them, and to students. Copies have already been sent to botanic and other gardens and learned societies throughout the world, and it is hoped members will take every opportunity to introduce this book to any of their friends to whom it would be useful. Copies may be had from Mrs MacLeod, price 6s.6d. post free. A secretary of another specialist society has written to say he ‘wishes he had thought of writing such a booklet’. I could never have attempted it, but am immensely grateful it has been written, and especially by one of our members. hens The Secretary/Treasurer’s Report As the Secretary has her say in the three Bulletins, it is rather as Treasurer that I speak now. However, I must remind members that the Annual General Meeting in its new form as a ‘Conversazione’ with tea and sherry will be held on Wednesday, April 29th, 1970, at 5 p.m. at 19 Rochester Row, S.W.1. Again, we have to thank Mr David McClintock and the Coal Utilisation Council for making this pleasant meeting available. Mr H. C. Prew, our Slide Librarian, hopes to attend with a selection of our Society’s slides. As you are aware, our financial year ends on March 31st. In 1969 this could not be adhered to and the Balance | | i YEAR BOOK 1970 3 Sheet and Income and Expenditure Accounts had conflicting dates, as a few members pointed out. Another trend is that, owing to our ‘advertising push’ each autumn, new members tend to join more in the last quarter of the year than at any other time. It has therefore been established that these do not pay again in the following March but are reminded in October or November. Members who were thus reminded in November 1969 were told of the combined husband/wife joint subscription of 30s. to become available in March 1970. Just to make quite sure, I am telling you now that only one set of Bulletins, Year Book, A.G.M. notices, etc., will be sent to joint subscribers. Postage, as we all know, has become such a serious matter that overseas members who wish to have their books and Bulletins sent by air are asked for a slight increase in their ‘dues’. Some of them have been doing this voluntarily for several years, for which we have been grateful. Unfortunately, each year sees a loss of members, so that as I draw up the list we have not reached the 700 referred to in Mr McClintock’s booklet. We have, however, been encouraged by an increasing number of younger members, because, in the nature of things, many of our lost members have had to give up their gardens on account of increasing age. One charming incident: a lady member of 83, on being reminded (with my usual tact!), sent her delayed sub- scription with the words: ‘You win! I had meant to resign this year.’ May she go on in our company for many years yet! C. I. MACLEOD —— Some notes from the Chairman Sir John Charrington, Crockham Hill, Kent Early in September 1969 the R.H.S. included a competition for heathers in a Fortnightly Show and I think that all who saw the display will agree that it was a success. The judging seemed to me an improvement upon previous 4 THE HEATHER SOCIETY exhibits; though how E. Tetralix ‘Alba Mollis’ came to win first place for Foliage Varieties puzzled me and, no doubt, others. The considerable number of vases on display must have been helpful in demonstrating to visitors how varied and attractive heathers are and should lead to an increase in those who grow them. This is one of the purposes of the Society, and I feel confident that if there were no. Heather Society there would have been no competition on September 9th. In previous notes I have alluded to the menace of leaves in the late autumn, for when they settle in the centre of a heather plant in a sodden mass they seem to harm the plant. If the leaves fall to the ground, no doubt no harm is done. I have a large bed of E. carnea ‘Springwood Pink’ all too near to some beech trees, and I have recently found that if I rake over the tops of the plants with a rubber rake one can get rid of many leaves without the damage to the blooms which are forming which a steel rake would do. [ can commend these rubber rakes to those with similar problems. Whilst we all regard the Cornish heather as E. vagans, I am particularly fond of two specimens of Calluna vulgaris ‘Mullion’ and ‘Kynance’ which must surely have come from Cornwall in view of their names. They grow freely, — are stocky, and flower abundantly. As a contrast to these freely growing varieties, I have been disappointed at the slow growth of Calluna vulgaris ‘J. H. Hamilton’. A few years ago I cleared an herbaceous border and planted instead 250 plants of this variety. They were excellent plants and it is a beautiful heather, but they are growing rather painfully slowly, and I still have more hoeing to do than I had expected. I have referred previously to plague spots where plants — go on dying for no clear reason. Four years ago I planted 12 Calluna vulgaris ‘Pygmea’ which have done well until ‘this year. By July I found that more than half had died off and the rest look sickly. They are admittedly high up on a rock garden and so might have gone dry at the roots, but why this variety should go in this way when others quite close have remained happy is one more of my unsolved mysteries. Where I have comparatively small plague spots in the YEAR BOOK 1970 =) middle of my heather garden I have planted one or two Thuya ‘Rheingold’ which I hope will overcome whatever kilis the heathers. It seems a good way to fill in a barren space. May I, Mr Editor, beg a few lines to pay tribute to my friend, David McClintock, who has done so much to raise the repute of our Society? Already a man with a very wide reputation in the botanical and horticultural worlds, he will never miss an opportunity to help us. His Guide to the Naming of Plants is a further example of his skill, deep interest and enthusiasm for his subject, and I am proud that he is now a Vice President of the Heather Society. An anonymous reader of 40 years ago Fred J. Chapple, Port Erin, Isle of Man This article is written mainly for those who are compara- tively new to heather growing. A slender volume, The Hardy Heaths by A. T. Johnson, was published as a Gardeners’ Chronicle Handbook in 1928. I gave my copy away to an old friend. Some years later I bought another one, in good condition, from a street barrow-stall for sixpence. The book had no name of the previous owner inside, but he (or she) had made a number of neat marginal notes, to which I refer. (A.T.J. denotes A. T. Johnson; A.R.C. the Anonymous Reader’s comments; M.R. my reply.) A.T.J.: There is only one species of Calluna, but its named varieties are exceedingly numerous. A.R.C.: There is a coloured and a white variety to every Calluna. | M.R.: This is not so. Coloured varieties, e.g. ‘Cuprea’, ‘Tenuis’, ‘Alportii’? and many others, have no white counterpart. 6 _THE HEATHER SOCIETY Calluna vulg. “Alportit’. A.R.C.: Is very apt to become scraggy with long bare stems from which it is impossible to make young growth appear. M.R.: The fault here is that the plant should not have been allowed to get scraggy and bare. In my opinion itis essen- tial to cut back certain hard wood varieties, such as ‘Alportii’ and ‘H. E. Beale’, each year in early spring. Faded blooms should be removed and hard wood cut away. When ‘Barnett Anley’ was scarcely known I had the good fortune to receive two or three plants from Mr George Jackman and Mrs Gwendolyn Anley. So many cuttings were taken from one of them that the plant had been cut back to less than three inches from the ground. It did not take long for new growth, vigorous and plentiful, to appear; the plant bushed out | into a fine shape, with dense foliage from which it flowered well. An important point to remember in cutting Callunas back is to always leave some foliage on the stems. Calluna vulg. ‘Cuprea’. A.R.C.: The very best of all Callunas and it has a decent white variety. M.R.: The R.H.S. gave ‘Cuprea’ a First Class Certificate in 1873, 96 years ago. That award holds good to this day, in the sustained merit of the plant. “The very best of all Callunas’, says the Anonymous Reader. One would have thought ‘Aurea’, another very old variety, to have been judged as good as “Cuprea’. Since Mr J. W. Sparkes showered his rainbow colours upon us ‘Cuprea’ has been in the background. I am unaware of a white form. E. cinerea “Coccinea’. A.T.J.: This is perhaps the most remarkable of the group, being very dwarf (six inches) and flowers of an intense blood crimson. A.R.C.: If only it were not so difficult to please. M.R.: A little teaser. No one knows of the garden owned by the A.R. nor the town in which he lived. He is not the only one who has run into trouble with this plant. YEAR BOOK 1970 7 Being dwarf with roots near the surface it is badly injured in a hard winter; this has been my experience. Damage done by a severe late frost retards spring growth. Query: Do members find E. cinerea ‘Coccinea’ difficult to please? Please let us know in the Bulletin. No doubt Mr A. T. Johnson, one of the greatest shrub gardeners of the century, if alive today would have been flattered to find his book so freely marked. Whether he would have been flattered by the observations is quite another matter! A Brief Bibliography of Heathers David McClintock, Platt, Kent Remarkably few books have been published on heathers, hardy or otherwise. Present knowledge about them has been built up in large measure from numerous contributions to, or comments in, scientific and gardening publications and a host of nurserymen’s catalogues. An attempt to list these would be a very large undertaking. The notes below are in three groups. The first deals with bound books solely on heathers; the next lists some major sources in other publications; while the third refers to a very few of the shorter papers, chosen largely for their good references. The first book on hardy heathers appeared only 43 years ago. This reflects the fact that “heaths’ throughout the nineteenth century, although decreasingly towards the end, almost invariably meant Cape Heaths. Furthermore, those who grew them were mostly those who could afford green- houses and gardeners, and fine books. Unfortunately, of all the books and major sources listed, I believe only A. T. Johnson’s, Maxwell and Patrick’s, Letts’, and Baker and Oliver’s books are still available. But a brand new one called Heaths and Heathers is scheduled for this autumn by David & Charles, written by Mr T. 8 THE HEATHER SOCIETY © Underhill of Dartington. I, myself, have all the twentieth- century books—all those published in the last 125 years!—_ in my own library; and have seen the remainder at Kew, the Natural History Museum, the Linnean Society, or the Lindley Library. I am grateful to the librarians at these institutions, Mr R. Desmond, Miss P. Edwards, Mr G. Bridson and Mr P. Stageman, for their help and advice. Your public library should also be able to get most of them for you to consult. Precisely where there are which runs of which periodical can usually be ascertained from the three volumes of 7he World List of Scientific Periodicals, 1900-1960, and Supple- ments. This should also help in discovering where to see the papers listed annually in our Year Books. Librarians have other means of tracing books and references, and can usually arrange for extracts to be photo-copied. BOOKS LINNAEUS, C. (1770) de Erica. A dissertation in Latin which mentions about 60 heaths, 16 of them European. Carolus Linnaeus (1707- 78), who ‘needs no introduction’, produced several such theses for disputation with his students. THUNBERG, C. P. (1785) de Erica. This dissertation incorporates some of what Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828) saw in South Africa. He describes in 62 pages, in Latin, 91 plants including European ones. There was a second Edition reprinted by R. A. Salisbury in 1800. AITON, W. T. (1796) Delineations of Exotick Plants by F. A. Bauer. William Townsend Aiton (1766-1849) succeeded his father as Royal Gardener at Kew in 1793, and was well © known for the rest of his life. To Francis Bauer (1758- 1840) Mr Wilfred Blunt gives ‘unhesitatingly the first place as the greatest botanical artist of all time’. The result here is 30 magnificent coloured folio engravings of South African Heaths, with, however, no text. Only 50 com- — plete copies of this work were produced. WENDLAND, J. C. (1798-1823) Ericarum Icones et Descrip- tiones. Hanover. YEAR BOOK 1970 9 Johann Christian Wendland (1755-1828) was in charge of the Royal Gardens at Hanover and a friend of Regel. His 162 hand-coloured etchings are smaller and less clear than those in the last or the next work. Three hardy species are included. ANDREWS, H. C. (1802-1830) Coloured Engravings of Heaths, 4 vols. (1804-1812) The Heathery, 6 vols. 2nd Edition 1845. Henry Andrews wasan artist at Kew who published both these works from his home at 5 Knightsbridge. The first contains 288 superb coloured folio engravings, including some of hardy heathers. The latter has smaller, coloured, pictures of 300 heathers. The Second Edition was pub- lished by H. G. Bohn. WaitTz, C. F. (1805) Beschreibung der Gattung und Arten der Heiden. Altenburg. Carl Friedrich Waitz (1774-1848), who was born and died in Altenburg, was at Jena at the time. His book, 335 pages, describes about 179 plants, including hardy species, in the first part, the second being devoted to cultivation, etc. It is therefore the earliest book of its kind. SINCLAIR, G. (1825) Hortus Ericaeus Woburnensis. George Sinclair (1786-1834) was a Scot in charge of the Gardens of the Sixth Duke of Bedford at Woburn, and a Fellow of the Linnean Society. This work lists 394 species and varieties grown there, including several hardy heathers. It has 51 pages. McNas, W. (1832) A treatise on the . . . general treatment of Cape Heaths. Edinburgh. T. Clark. William McNab (1780-1848) was Head Gardener at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, a specialist in heathers, and well known in his day. His book of 43 pages includes one listing the Hardy Heathers. This work was reprinted in the Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in 1908. REGEL, E. A. (1843) Die Kultur und Aufzahlung in der Deutschen und Englischen Garten befindlichen Eriken. Dr Eduard August von Regel (1815-92), the founder of 10 THE HEATHER SOCIETY > ‘Gartenflora’, was at the time in Ziirich: later he went to St Petersburg. His book describes 335 species, with various varieties, in 189 pages. This book reproduced his paper of 1841, ‘Die Kultur von Eriken’, in the Verhandlungen des Vereins zur Beforderung des Gartenbaus. To the best of my knowledge, there was then no book on heathers published for 60 years until: WALLACE, A. (1903) The Heather in Lore, Lyric and Lay. De la Mare, New York. Alexander Wallace (1859-1908), an expatriate Scot, was then Editor of The Florists Exchange, a New York periodical. His book is full of odds and ends, as the title implies. There was another gap, of 24 years, until: MAXwELL, D. F. (1927) The Low Road. London, Sweet & Maxwell. Douglas Fyfe Maxwell (1891-1963) founded the firm of Maxwell & Beale in Dorset. This book of his is the earliest dealing solely with the species and cultivars of the hardy heathers and their cultivation. 103 pages. JOHNSON, A. T. (1928) The Hardy Heaths. Gardeners’ Chron. (1956) Hardy Heaths (2nd _ Edition). Blandford. Arthur Tysilio Johnson (1873-1956) lived most of his life in the Conway Valley in North Wales, finally as a garden journalist. The first edition of his book had 116 pages, the second 127. Both deal with the species and cultivars and their cultivation. BEIERINCK, W. (1940) Calluna. A Monograph on the Scotch Heather. Amsterdam. (Reprinted from the Transactions of the Royal Netherlands Scientific Academy, 1940. Vol. 38(4) pp. 1-180.) Dr Willem Beijerinck (1891-1960) founder of the - Biological Station at Wijster, wrote numerous scientific papers, including several on heathers. This culminating work of his on the subject discusses them in many aspects, and groups all the Calluna forms taxonomically with Latin names. There are also 27 plates and a 16-page bibliography. YEAR BOOK 1970 11 STEINMANN, W. (1947) Das Heidekraut. Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull. Hamburg. Fraulein Waltraut Steinmann’s book is sub-titled ‘A Botanical-Chemical-Pharmaceutical Description’ of Ling. She gives a wide range of notes on its uses as a medical herb and on other aspects, plus a bibliography. Being produced just after the war, it is on poor paper in soft covers. CEBRIAN, N. de BENITO (1948) Brezales y Brezas. Instituto Forestal, Madrid. Sixty-seven useful pages, 30 on heather associations, 25 on 14 Spanish species, with a key, distribution maps and clear drawings. CHAPPLE, F. J. (1952) The Heather Garden. Collingridge. (2nd Edition 1964.) Mr Fred Chapple is well known as the Society’s President. The first edition had 180 pages and the second 190. Both describe the species and cultivars and their cultivation. Letts, J. (1966) Hardy Heaths and the Heather Garden. Mr John Letts is also well known, for his nursery at -~Windlesham, whence he has privately published this 127-page list of species and cultivars, with notes on cultivation. There are several colour plates. MAXWELL, D. F. and Patrick, P. S. (1966) The English Heather Garden. MacDonald. 184 pages dealing with the species and cultivars and their cultivation. Mr Patrick has spent many years with his heathers, some of it with Mr Maxwell, and is the Society’s Editor. BAKER, H. A. and OLIver, E. G. H. (1967) Ericas in South- ern Africa. Purnell. Colonel Baker and Mr Oliver’s book—the latter is a professional botanist in South Africa—refers to all the 605 species in Southern Africa. 167 of these are exquisitely illustrated in colour on 105 colour plates. The book has 246 pages. OTHER MAJOR SOURCES SALISBURY, R. A. (1802) “Species of Erica’ in the Transac- 12 ~THE HEATHER SOCIETY tions of the Linnean Society, vol. 6. pp. 316-338. This is written in Latin, and enumerates about 216 species. It is here that Calluna is separated from Erica. Dr Richard Salisbury was an able but unpopular botanist, and a coiner of names. i BENTHAM, G. (1839) in A. P. de Candolle’s Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis, Part 7, pp. 612-694. George Bentham (1800-1884), nephew of Jeremy Bentham, was the leading taxonomist of his age. In this work he described 429 species plus several varieties, divided into 49 sections and other sub-divisions. It also is written in Latin. GUTHRIE, F. and Botus, H. (1905) in W. T. Thistleton- Dyer’s ‘Flora Capensis’, vol. 4(1), pp. 4-315. Francis Guthrie (1831-1899) was Professor of Mathe- matics at Cape Town and Dr Harry Bolus (1834-1911) a stockbroker, partner in Bolus Bros. This scholarly contribution describes 469 species, plus varieties, and lists other taxa. INGWERSEN, W. E. Th. (1947) ‘The Genus Erica, including Calluna.’ | This was privately published, one of a series produced shortly after the war by Mr Ingwersen’s firm, which he founded in 1925. He himself (1882-1960) was keen on heathers, like his son Will, and this work gives, in 20 pages, excellent information on the various hardy species and varieties. HANSEN, I. (1950) Botanische Jahrbucher 75(1), pp. 1-81. ‘Die Europaischen Arten der Gattung Erica L.’ Frau Dr. Irmgard Hansen wrote from Berlin. Her paper is an invaluable discussion of the European Heathers and includes distribution maps. LAMONT, I. (1951) ‘Calluna vulgaris. A review of the Literature.’ Miss Isabella Lamont’s paper appears in an appendix to Hill Farm Research, pp. 57-78, published by the Stat- ionery Office. It is a useful summary of numerous aspects, with a good bibliography, chiefly agricultural. DULFER, H. (1964—5) “Revision der Sudafrikanischen Arten YEAR BOOK 1970 13 der Gattung Erica L.’ in Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums, Wien, vol. 67, pp. 79-147; vol. 68, pp. 25-177. This work is of great value, but Dr Dulfer, from Wilhelmsburg in Lower Austria, did not see South African Herbarium specimens. He has useful notes on European taxa, too. SHORTER PAPERS It being so difficult to choose which to mention on any other basis, here are just half-a-dozen with particularly good bibliographies, and therefore clues to many other sources. The best series is the Biological Flora, the various parts of which can be obtained from Blackwell’s Scientific Publica- tions in Oxford, or seen in the relevant numbers of the Journal of Ecology (Botany). Those on the heathers are— D. A. Webb (1955) Erica Mackaiana S. R. J. Woodall (1958) Daboecia cantabrica C. H. Gimingham (1960) Calluna vulgaris P. Bannister (1965) Erica cinerea P. Bannister (1966) E. Tetralix Another on E. ‘mediterranea’ is in preparation, by Webb and Bannister. These suffer from too few references to garden forms or conditions. The same is true also of the Commonwealth Bureau’s (of Hurley, Berks.) Herbage Abstracts ‘Index to Calluna vulgaris’, 1938-68, where in fact the agricultural side predominates. Other sources to papers on heathers are the various other series of abstracts, including Horticultural Abstracts from the Commonwealth Bureau’s Horticultural Station at East Malling; the British Humanities Index of the Library Association, which lists articles in periodicals; the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Botany Subject Index 1958 (15 vols); the Dictionary Catalog of the Library of Massa- chusett’s Horticultural Society, 1962 (3 vols), both published by G. K. Hall, Boston; and the Indexes to the R.H.S. Journal, A.G.S. Bulletin, Gardeners’ Chronicle, The Garden, and such other horticultural publications as have indexes, which in any event are probably not comprehensive. But in general only a small proportion of what there is to be gleaned on heathers has been indexed, so far. 14 THE HEATHER SOCIETY. SOME RECENT WRITINGS ON HEATHERS ANON. (1969) ‘A Salute to Heathers.’ The Times, October 15th, p. 9. . ANDERSON, J. N. (1961) “The Attraction of Tree Heaths’ Amateur Gardening, November 22nd, pp. 24-5. BRICKELL, C. D. (1969) ‘Notes from Wisley.’ Jnl. Royal Hort. Soc. September. XCIV(9), 373-7. BRICKELL, C. D. and McCuintockx, D. (1969) ‘Erica “Wishanger Pink”.’ Jnl. Royal Hort. Soc. March. XCIV(3), 136-7 CHOPINET, R. (1967-8) ‘Les Bruyéres rustiques’. Bulletin de la Société des Amateurs de Jardin Alpin. 1V, Nos. 63 & 64; V, No. 65. (This appeared also in the Revue Horticole, January 1968, pp. 1429-32; March, pp. 1464-70; May, pp. 1496-1500; July, pp. 1528-32.) FoRSYTH, G. (1969) ‘Welcome to the Heathers.’ Daily Telegraph, November 29th, 1969, p. 5. Howarp, S. (1969) ‘Plastic Pots will help spread your Heathers.’ Garden News, August 29th, p. Uh. KNEIPP, O. (1969) ‘Briken in Sudafrika.’ Gartenwelt 69, pp. 409- 11. KRANZ, H. (1968) ‘Erikapflanzen in Torfpresstopfen.’ Gartenwelt ae pp. 386-7. McC.uintock, D. (1969) ‘Some notes on Erica “‘mediter- ranea”. Irish Naturalist Journal. April. Vol. 16, No. 6, pp. 154-8. McCuInTock, D. (1969) ‘Daboecia azorica and its Hybrids with D. cantabrica.’ Jnl. Royal Hort. Soc. XCIV(10), pp. 449-53. MITCHELL, M. (1969) ‘Try Heaths.’ Garden News, July 11th, p. 16. Rose, D. (1969) ‘Heathers—Advantages over Roses.’ Gardeners’ Chronicle. November 14th. Vol. 166(20), p. 16-19. Ross, R. (1969) Watsonia, Vol. 7, p. 164. TOWNSEND, D. W. H. (1969) ‘The Heath Garden.’ Gardeners’ Chronicle. October 24th. Vol. 166(17), pp. 15-16. VERZELETTI, M. (1969) ‘L’Erica, Una Planta de Scoprire.’ Il Giardino Florito. XXXV(2), pp. 58-62. | WILSHER, B. (1969) ‘All Among the Heather.’ Popular Gardening. November ist, p. 21. YEAR BOOK 1970 15 The Heather Registration Authority Members may have noticed Q. and A. 30 in our Guide to the Naming of Plants, and might like to know more about what it will mean that our Society has been appointed the International Registration Authority for garden heathers. First, it should be said that, although this was accepted by the International Society for Horticultural Science’s Committee for Horticultural Nomenclature and Registra- tion(!) during the vast Botanical Congress at Seattle in August, it needs formal approval at the International Horticultural Congress at Tel Aviv from March 17th to 25th, 1970. Thereafter, the appointment will be publicised; and no new cultivar name for heathers will be valid unless registered with the Authority, while Societies such as the R.H.S. will give awards to no plants under an unregistered name. Registration is also of benefit to the applicant, in that he can be sure a name is really new and that his will refer to his plant and never to any other, anywhere; and equally, one hopes, that his plant will not be known by any other name. Pre-1970 names do not require to be registered, but it would help if they were. The information required includes the origin, when known, any testing done for constancy, etc., and a description of how the plant differs from existing varieties. For the very difficult matter to record in writing of colour, flower and foliage, a transpar- ency would be the greatest help; and a dried specimen is also always welcome, while, preferably, a living plant should be sent to the collection at Harlow Car for a full comparison. The Authority will deal with the genera Andromeda, Bruckenthalia, Calluna, Daboecia and Erica. This last genus needs special care, for the great majority of its species are South African and tender, but the International Com- mission did not wish it to be covered only in part, while the named cultivars seem at present to be relatively few. The Society is in touch with the main commercial grower of hybrid Cape Heaths in this country, who has already altered three of his names to avoid duplication with those already 16 ' THE HEATHER SOCIETY in use for hardy varieties (cf. Proceedings of R.H.S. Floral Committee *‘C’ on September 23rd, 1965). Would any member who knows anyone else hybridising Cape Heaths, here, on the Continent, or indeed anywhere in the world, please help us to get, and keep, in touch, for mutual benefit? In order that it may be known what names have already been given to heathers, one of the first duties of the Authority will be to produce a list of existing names. This is no mean task, with well over 1,000 to look into and account for, some of them errors, some of them misprints and many, no doubt, synonyms. What will probably be done is to issue a pre- liminary check-list, and follow that in due course with a standard version. Additions will be published in our Year Book—so will growers please send in details of their new cultivars as soon as they are definitely named? With care and help the cost of producing these lists should be covered by their sales. A fee is authorised for each registration to — cover administrative costs. It has not yet been settled what this will be. This international appointment of our Society, which is both an honour and a duty, should widen our usefulness and benefit everyone. Recommendations for the guidance of Registration Authorities are in Appendix 1 to the International Code of Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants. This is reprinted on page 424 of the recent Supplement to the R.H.S. Dictionary, together with the list of other Registra- tion Authorities. Ce eee ° E. multiflora L. Dr Violet Gray, Hindhead, Surrey Erica multiflora is a species of heath which deserves to be .more widely known to heather lovers. It is probably not very hardy, which may account for its lack of popularity with nurserymen and heather enthusiasts. It cannot, how- ever, be really tender, because it survived for 25 years at Hindhead (750 feet above sea level) and reached a height of five feet nine inches. Those 25 years included the winter YEAR BOOK 1970 17 of 1947, but it was protected by an overhanging beech tree. My husband had great difficulty in getting successful cuttings from that original plant, but fortunately he got some going before the parent plant petered out owing to overgrowth of its competitors. The young plants progressed slowly, but I now have two plants of four feet five inches and one nearly six feet high. This taller plant was covered with rose pink racemes from August into November last year. The best botanical description I know is in Flora Complete de France, Suisse et Belgique, Vol. 7, by Gaston Bonnier, and there is a beautiful coloured engraving in Andrews’ Coloured Engravings of Heathers, Vol. 3. Although pub- lished 164 years ago it might have been made from my plant. The R.H.S. Dictionary of Gardening describes it as an ‘ascending shrub 12 to 18 inches high in cultivation, but sometimes a small tree in nature. Flowers November- February. S. Europe and Algeria. Resembles Erica vagans but less hardy.’ Mr McClintock showed some excellent dried specimens of E. multiflora at the Heather Society’s Annual General Meeting in 1969. These were collected in February in Malta by Brig. and Mrs Montgomery. Most writers refer to the confusion between E. multiflora and E. vagans. There would certainly be no confusion in the mind of anyone who saw one of my plants, but I must stress that they grow abnormally tall for the species. Nowhere in the literature is a height of more than 80 cm. mentioned. Certainly not six feet (180 cm.). There are a number of features which distinguish E. multiflora from E. vagans. In formation it is a fairly compact bush from four to six feet high with rigid twiggy branches covered with rose pink racemes whose flowers hang grace- fully down. I have seen no variation of colour range, such as we see in the Cornish heather, which is found in every colour from white to deep mauve. Nor does it show any tendency to wander, or indeed to spread horizontally at any time. Even the seedling plants have a strong central vertical spike. There are a number of less obvious distinguishing 18 THE HEATHER SOCIETY features of botanical interest. The racemes are shorter than in E. vagans, and never with a tuft of leaves at the top; and although the pedicels are of similar length, the weight of the longer flowers makes them tend to spread or hang. The flowers are larger, twice as long as broad, and the narrower calyx lobes are almost half the length of the corolla. The anther lobes are joined throughout the greater part of their length, whereas in E. vagans they are divergent to the base. These points may not be of general interest, but E. multiflora is a heath which well deserves a place in the heather garden, where it improves the fiat contour and is quite a spectacular tree heath in late summer and autumn. Unfortunately it is not very effective in winter (although, of course, it remains evergreen). ———=s Across the Atlantic Pamela Harper, Maryland, U.S.A. In early May we left the wild and beautiful State of Con- necticut, with its rocks and lakes, its oaks and junipers, maples and mountain-laurel, its blue-skied summers and sunny but bitter winters—destination, Maryland. By no means all of the one-in-five American families who relocate each year find the experience agreeable. We were fortunate and I have nothing but praise for the removal firm who packed our belongings, trucked and unloaded them, more or less on schedule and without damage or mess. State laws, however, do not permit them to carry plant material or livestock. Thus our Herald estate car was loaded to the roof with newly lifted heathers plus a small ‘white mouse in its plastic garbage-can (dustbin) home—a misguided Christmas gift to our son. Following behind I saw with alarm that the estate car wheels, normally sloping slightly inward, were splayed out in knock-kneed fashion. The grass was still winter brown when we left and patches of snow could still be seen in woodland hollows. We YEAR BOOK 1970 19 by-passed New York and its rush-hour traffic, then through that blot on the earth the New Jersey industrial belt with its oil refineries, factories and eye-stinging, lung-choking acrid fumes. Southward to Delaware, where the grass showed signs of spring, and thence to Maryland, just south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Look on the map. From Con- neticut to Maryland is 300 miles, which helps to explain why heather growers on the Atlantic seaboard are unlikely to meet those of the Pacific north-west—a distance ten times as great. The journey was not without incident. The Herald (brought with us from England) being right-hand drive, Niki in the passenger seat was responsible for paying tolls at the booths positioned on the left. As it grew dark I followed them through one toll station to find the young collector gazing after them with bemused expression. Scratching his head he said, ‘If the kid driving that car is more than 13, I'll eat my hat’. Maryland, some 350 miles from east to west, extends from the Atlantic Ocean, through Chesapeake Bay tide- water country, on to gently rolling fields with their tobacco barns and prosperous, white-fenced farms, and then to more mountainous terrain. Already the season looked more advanced and spring reached Maryland soon after we did, the roadside a riot of honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica ‘Halleana’—a rampant weed in this area but a lovely one), its massed blooms scenting the air for miles, fighting for space with the equally abundant Rosa multiflora which flowers a little later. Woodlands became edged and laced with dogwoods, Cornus florida, white (rarely pale pink) in its wild state, and here and there the redbuds, Cercis canadensis, with rosy-purple pea-like flowers. The pinxter- flower, Rho. nudiflorum, is another native, a name which has intrigued me since I read about it in Frederick Street’s book on ‘Azaleas’. Gardens were gay with flowering crabs, cherries, almonds, dogwoods in the many garden varieties and azaleas by the thousand, grown more formally than in England as edgings for drives, low hedges or foundation plantings alongside the house. Vivid colours seemed to be preferred, typified by the rather garish ‘Hino Crimson’, causing me to reflect that 20 THE HEATHER SOCIETY perhaps here one could colour list a plant as magenta without dooming it to obscurity. Eagerly I searched for heaths, successlessly; only when ] visited Longwood Gardens some time later was the search rewarded, though in ensuing months I did find other growers. Heathers are not without problems in Maryland. Winters can be very cold, with frost 18 inches into the ground. This, combined with sun and wind, dehydrates foliage and causes dieback. Doubtless some species and cultivars will succumb (E. hibernica, E. x darleyensis, E. terminalis and many E. cinerea were badly cut by the first November frosts) but I am sure ample will prove garden-worthy. Summer poses other, perhaps greater, problems. July and August temperatures remain steadily in the 80’s, combined with such humidity that stepping outside feels like being wrapped in a warm, wet blanket. I retreated to the comfortable 70 degrees of our air-conditioned house, but no such escape was possible for the heathers and they bore it remarkably well. Constant sunshine and heavy rainfall cause carneas in particular to grow so fast that they assume a lanky, elon- gated look unless grown in full sun with perfect drainage and poor soil. Weather conditions are, in fact, the antithesis of those in England, where regular drizzle keeps foliage moist without roots becoming saturated. Here rain comes as infrequent deluges, then the sun returns and the atmo- sphere resembles a Turkish bath. Under such conditions foliage starts to brown and rot, spreading rapidly from plant to plant with devastating effect. At first sign of this I applied the only treatments which occurred to me, namely, a Captan spray, a sulphur dust and a layer of gravel chippings under the foliage. This was effective but it is too soon to say whether it is the final answer to what appears to be a fungus problem. Gradually I found that heathers are being grown, . primarily by the enthusiastic and knowledgeable gardeners of the American Rock Garden Society. Here, of course, heathers must compete for affection with the thousands of alpine gems so lovingly and competently grown. Emphasis is on the dwarfer kinds and I have not yet seen a complete heather garden as we have known in England. : YEAR BOOK 1970 21 The average householder knows nothing of heathers, nor do they get much help from the trade. One leading mail order firm in their handsome and profusely illustrated catalogue picture a white Calluna captioned ‘Erica, Spring- wood White’. Perpetuating this error another firm list ‘Erica Springwood White, 10, a summer bloomer’. Another big nursery decline to differentiate between Erica and Calluna (“We know but don’t care’) and then list ‘E. v. Sherwood Early Red—starts in late November then sends its bright flowers through the snow’, this being an Erica carnea cultivar, which makes the first part of their bracketed statement open to question. Only in the more modest catalogues of specialist nurseries does one find reasonably accurate information. The situation, however, is not without hope. A few plants placed with a local garden centre, by way of ex- periment, sold on sight. Given time I hope to establish here all the best of the English cultivars and make them available, correctly named, as stock plants for interested members of the trade. Once exposed to heathers the general public will, I believe, take them to their hearts until they become (with tongue in cheek I quote a popular American expression) ‘as American as apple-pie’! Some two or three dozen English cultivars are fairly readily available here and there are in addition not a few American introductions. Many of these are without merit but there are a few, notably Calluna ‘Valorian’, which impressed me as young plants, and others, though not worth introducing to England, do seem to be particularly robust under local conditions. Some listed names I have not yet seen ‘in the flesh’, so to speak. Calluna ‘Monstros’ I would like to see if only to find out why it deserved such an ugly name. I know there is a school of thought which says we Should turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to these unfamiliar, often illegitimate, names, but since we are bound to come across the names I think it best to investigate and assess their merit. A catalogue just reached me from Holland in which I note more newcomers—E. cinerea ‘Katinka’ and E. Tetralix ‘Helma’ and ‘Tina’—and I hope to see these in the course of time. For the present I am concentrating on growing here over 22 THE HEATHER SOCIETY 100 cultivars, with about 100 more now rooting in trays and a fresh batch of cuttings just received from Mr Copeland. Progress reports for the Bulletins will follow from time to time. : aa Harlow Car: Looking Ahead John P. Ardron, Sheffield, Yorks Arising from our efforts to create a really comprehensive collection of heather at Harlow Car Gardens, Harrogate, it is becoming evident that the proliferation of new names is getting out of hand. Time and again, members have pointed out that many varieties are indistinguishable from one another and it is suggested that maybe when growers have an unnamed heather which is different from any in the limited range they grow, it is given a name—and a ‘new variety is born. Or, as already we have some evidence, an indistinct label has been mis-read and another invalid variety has come on to the market. Quoting from page 7, 1965 Year Book, the late D. Fyfe Maxwell referred to: *. . . a lot of allegedly new finds that differ in little but name from existing kinds. Such senseless near-duplication is an embarrassment to the seller and the = sold’:= No dishonesty on the part of growers is implied but merely a lack of knowledge or of opportunity to investigate the comparative value of the plant. Mr D. McClintock has a list of a hundred or so, at some time named, white Callunas! Apparently, Calluna f. alba, although not really very rare, is not widespread on our moorlands; consequently any odd find is liable to be judged ‘as a pearl of great price. We find that over fifty white lings are offered in current catalogues: what luck? In the 1964 Year Book (p. 22) the late Mrs E. Deutsch wrote from U.S.A.: *. . . over the years, there has been much duplication, and at the present time, there is some confusion of nomenclature. I do hope the Heather Society YEAR BOOK 1970 2S will assume the burden of straightening out this confusion before it becomes greater.’ A letter from Mr M. A. Hill points the remedy. He says: ‘Some time in the future I think the Society should produce a handbook, which could be issued every three or four years, of all the heathers recognised by the Society as distinct . and awards given by the Society for the plants of outstanding merit.’ The work of recording and comparing which has now been undertaken at Harlow Car should, for the first time, make this possible. This is how we plan to investigate, not to be confined to one or two years only: every variety is to have a record sheet upon which is to be detailed the height, spread, initial flowering and time to fading, spike length, colour, foliage, and with supplementary data upon general performance, habit, hardihood and comparative value as against similar forms. We are indeed fortunate that four of our members in Harrogate, Mrs P. Smith, Mrs M. Myers, Mrs E. J. L. Pearce and Mr V. J. A. Russ, have volunteered to do this recording. We are already indebted to this group of enthusiasts for their careful listing of over 4,000 heathers grown on in the nursery beds. As the project develops, we hope to be in a position to produce a list of those varieties which have proved to have distinctive features and to be of sufficient merit. New varieties would of course be added from time to time, but only gaining acceptance after trial and comparison with existing forms. The importance of this angle was raised by our Chairman (1964 Year Book, p. 11): ‘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.’ This should be invaluable to both nurserymen and the gardening public and avoid the senseless proliferation of names as pointed out by Mr H. W. Copeland (August 5th, 1968): ‘Some ignorant growers are introducing seedlings of their own which have no merit whatsoever. These fellows know about 30 cultivars and of course nobody can intelligently 24 , THE HEATHER SOCIETY | introduce something new unless he is familiar with nearer 300 known existing.’ With all this contention about names, it is very important that we do not lose the substance for the shadow. The garden is made beautiful by its plants, not by its nomen- clature. The name is merely the key to enable us to obtain the desired result and it is most frustrating if some of the keys don’t fit. Heathers are prone to show variation in vigour and habit of growth. Some specimens prove to be of superior type and we are indebted to Mr G. Yates for his suggestion that propagation should always be taken from the better plants. Growers would thus secure a progressive improvement of the strain, rather than as we suspect can happen. .. . ‘We can’t sell that wreckling. Pull it up and make it into cuttings!’ Such could account for some of the poor stuff sold. As to the small size of plants supplied by some nurseries, the problem is twofold. Firstly, the demand is so great that orders are executed before the plants are really ready, and, secondly, the cost of carriage on well-grown stock has risen so alarmingly. How fortunate you are if able to collect your purchases and see what you are getting. Yet, if you wait until the spring, so many varieties are likely to be sold out! At Harlow Car we have our problems in getting together © all the varieties we seek, having the labels made and hoping they are all correct. But we are looking ahead with some confidence that we will be able to show you a goodly heather garden as well as a collection. The development is on a rough site and the work entails the placing of huge rocks and landscaping to form access paths, a task being tackled manfully by the Superintendent, Mr Geoffrey Smith, and his team. The Northern Horti- cultural Society is taking great pride in the creation of this _ major feature to add to the many attractions of their famous garden. Another long-term investigation is foreshadowed in an interview we had with Mr F. B. Stubbs, secretary of the Northern Horticultural Society Science Group. An experi- mental heather plot is to be set up to test the results obtained — from growth in various soils, diverse pH conditions, com- posts and fertilisers. YEAR BOOK 1970 25 The progress of their investigations will be followed with great interest and will demonstrate to the average visitor to the garden the effects of favourable and unfavourable conditions on the heather family. —— ss Growing Heathers as a hobby: unorthodox methods, unexpected results Horace Hale, Haslemere, Surrey ‘See the heather carpet spread To the hills in purple mist Where the gentle gloaming falls In a field of amethyst.’ (K. G. Sulivan) Yes, that is how we like to view it, with all the little sheep walks criss-crossing and winding between, to complete the warp and woof of the pattern, and to those whose gardens can be made to join up with such a scene where drifts of our improved cultivars blend and lose themselves and appear again among the native varieties, the prospect must indeed be grand. However, among the fast-growing number of our Society's membership there must be many who, like myself, have to find their joy in growing heathers has to be confined to an area of not more than a fraction of an acre. This may be situated within a rectangular boundary fence that is already taking up more of its share of the allotted space than can be permitted. Anyway, that is how I found it, and I have been asked on many occasions how I set about the job. If I related my methods in full detail, any professional gardener or specialist nurseryman who read this article would say that it should have been entitled, “How not to grow heathers’. I am, however, writing this in the hope of 26 THE HEATHER SOCIETY encouraging ‘the not so well informed’. I grow heathers for my own pleasure and satisfaction and I find results more rewarding by just doing the best I can, with what I have, in the space available, and, in my own case, having already been on the retired list for twenty years, I have to add in the time I may have left to do the job. In doing just this, I have, like the doctors, frequently had to bury my mistakes. In the first place, I attacked the out-of-control boundary hedge that had evidently been, originally, alternately planted with beech and whitethorn, the latter about eight feet high and nearly as wide. This had completely submerged the beech, which I decided to preserve, whilst eradicating the whitethorn bushes. Fortunately, this proved a success and I now have a tall, slim and elegant hedge providing a pleasing background to some heather beds, which is bright when the foliage is green through the summer and of a warm rusty colouring through the winter months, that blends well with the varying hues that the heather adopts during that season of the year. I was fortunate that the area planned for the heather garden had been left by my predecessor as a rough grass plot, so my future scheme was not restricted to an already established layout. Having tackled the boundary hedge already mentioned, I decided to put my ideas on paper, so that I could work to a plan when making the heather beds which, as I was determined to do all the work myself, I now realised would take me years to complete. I felt that it would be far better to do it a bit at a time, makinga thorough job of the foundation work, than to rush the project and get poor results. After all, I was doing the work for my own amuse- ment, and as with fox hunting, the fun is in the ‘chase’ and not the *kill’. My idea was to keep the proposed new layout as informal as possible, although, owing to the limited area available, I had to modify my dreams and more or less adopt a semi-formal scheme or I should have to limit severely the numbers and varieties I hoped to grow. My first thoughts in putting my plans on paper were that | was giving myself much unnecessary work and maybe this was so, as having outlined the shape of the particular bed under construction, I first removed all the tussocky turf and — stacked it on one side. I then took out a spit of soil, throwing (10H ‘H AW -010Yd) (‘$7 a8ed 996) ‘Aating ‘s1OWUs|[SeH{ Je USpIeS S.oJeH IAL JO Weg (g¢ osed 9909) ‘suTeJUNOPY URIIQeIULD VY} Ul SUIMOIS DID20GDG jJIeEMG YEAR BOOK 1970 Z| out most of the big stones, which I afterwards found useful for another purpose. By this time I was surrounded by piles of earth, causing my neighbours to think that I was digging foundations for another house. Now I was ready to build up what I thought would be a good depth of soil that would allow my heathers to get their roots deeply down, so I chopped up the rough turf with the spade and put this at the bottom of the hollow that I had excavated. To this I added a good covering of compost which fortunately I found already on the site, then, after mixing it with peat, I threw back the spit of soil previously taken out. This, with the additional material used, left me with a raised bed of good soil and I carried out this method with each successive heather bed I have laid out. I have found that before plant- ing it is best to give the new bed sufficient time to settle and then put the new plants in very firmly and deeply, finishing off afterwards with a handful of peat around each. When, as I often have been, I am asked why my heather plants look so strong and healthy, I give the results of my hard work as ‘the main reason. The dwarf conifers that I plant among the heathers also seem to appreciate the treatment as they revel in getting their roots down into a soil containing lots of humus. Having spent my active life as a farmer, it goes against the grain to see any plant looking half-starved and often I have been tempted to encourage such a one with a little help from the fertiliser bag, to which I find, in spite of all the advice to the contrary, heather plants, too, can actively respond. Howbeit, experience (the unseen schoolmaster) has taught me that the more lush I grow my heathers in the summer, the more they are punished when severe frost comes in the winter. On investigation the reason appears to be that severe freezing bursts the stems of the plants, and, as in the case of domestic water piping, it is adversely affected by frost when left full of water. Correspondingly the stems of the lusty heathers which seem to grow even in winter, being still full of sap, get frozen and, like the water piping, burst with disastrous results. Even then, plants so affected usually have the courage when spring returns to make new growth from root level and start again. It seems that almost as many new discoveries can be made in the heather garden as on the surface of the moon, 28 THE HEATHER SOCIETY and it is wondering what will happen next that keeps one’s interest alive. Not many, however, of the chance seedlings that crop up turn out like the ‘Ugly Duckling’ to be the ‘graceful swan’, none the less I am always loath to throw out a healthy young heather so I usually consign them to a spot where I can watch their development and still hope that one among their number may turn out to be something unusual. I have also noticed that some particular plant, or per- haps the whole group of one variety, can one season look very rusty and forlorn and I contemplate consigning them to the autumn bonfire, but on second thoughts I give them another chance and next year they appear to have renewed vigour of their youth and I am glad having given them a reprieve. I have no set rules as to when or how I prune, but I find heathers so accommodating that I leave them until they appear to be getting out of bounds or are pushing each other out of bed and I then trim them back accordingly, often planting some of the twiglets I have cut off in a shady spot, and by keeping them moist many of them take root. It is surprising how many replacements] get by replanting twigs and sprigs that get accidentally broken off by humans or animals. Instead of isolating these I usually push them into the soil near to the mother plant from which they have become detached so that they still feel they belong to the family, and I find they usually flourish and can be removed later if required. Mist propagation with all the accessories I leave to the professionals, although I am always interested in the results obtained by this method. I am always happy to welcome a visit from any member who may care to call on me. It does not take long to look round and it is much easier to point out facts and features than to write about them, but there is always time to linger to discuss matters of mutual interest. On the whole, I think my reactions to the results I have obtained are summed up by the Irishman’s remark that, ‘although things were not as good as he expected, he had never thought they would be’. I would finish by recommending, as a good rule in retire- ment, keep youth in your heart and grow heathers. You can then always be sure that next year will be better. | | } | YEAR BOOK 1970 29 Heathers, Glass and Ignorance J. R. Tyson, Hawkshead, Ambleside Our home in the Lake District is situated in a narrow valley with a lake two miles long at the foot of the nearest field. The rainfall averages about 80 inches with dull skies and lack of sun in consequence. The altitude is about 250 feet and the nearest salt water about nine miles distant. The soil is a gritty, well-drained medium loam, slightly acid and ideal for heathers. My interest in heather growing began on the bitter January morning some five years ago when I saw a vivid sprig of carnea standing out through the snow on a bank near the house which I remembered carelessly prodding in some two years previously. Then and there was born a resolve to to grow more of these winter-flowering plants which defied the worst our climate could do. A winter garden appealed to me, the reds, bronzes, silvers and greens of dwarf shrubs with the bright carneas: colour in spring and summer was easy. The intention was to plant up about a quarter of an acre. Realising that this would be costly, I decided to propagate the heathers. Growing heathers from cuttings was something new to me, so books were bought and borrowed. In the meantime herbaceous plants were moved and ground prepared. Rocks were planted to break up the scene and give the effect of a moraine. Some heathers were purchased and planted, but little did I know what the underworld had in store for me. All unknown to me, the gremlins were at work. This was evident the following season when “Queen of Spain’ proved to be ‘Vivellii? and ‘King George’ was x darleyensis. In fact it was a royal mix-up. In 1965 summer came at last and the cuttings season began. A frame was prepared with due regard for soil mixtures, symbiotics, drainage and siting. About 400 cuttings of many varieties were dibbled in, strictly as to instructions. Shading and watering were attended to daily, nothing was left undone. By October, it was quite obvious that somewhere the underworld had been busy. I had 30 ‘THE HEATHER SOCIETY produced a miniature field of grey wisps. Some 10 per cent of the cuttings had rooted, the rest looked sick. In 1966, still determined, more plants were bought; here I found that larger plants were better value and gave more cuttings. This season more than 1,000 cuttings were inserted but hormones were not used. Once more the slaughter was terrible: there was no affinity *twixt me and the half-ripe cuttings. If my cutting frames had been sited near the top of my hill some 50 feet higher where the light was more intense and the air more buoyant, I think the results would have improved. Most things will mould here in mid-July to mid- September when the humidity is greatest. But I had found by the end of the second season that mature heather cuttings would root satisfactorily in open ground if I could improvise glass protection. In November a bunch of mature cuttings, graded for length, were cut, a hole with a large dibber was made as deep as two-thirds the length of the cuttings, sand was pushed in, and with a few stabs of a smaller dibber the cuttings were firm. A glass jam-jar was clapped over the lot and pushed a little into the soil. The following March, when new growth had begun, the jar was eased up to allow air to enter and about ten days later removed entirely on a damp day. By the fall these cuttings had made robust plants without a single casualty. By 1967 I had made a fine collection of priceless glass. With modifications on the first crude attempt, some 500 cuttings were inserted under jars. These were spring cuttings and rooted well. The following winter being mild, they were left uncovered, having made excellent growth. [ should have known better and been prepared. February 1968 was dry with frost on 27 days and bright sun. In my absence again the underworld, leagued with the ~ weather, struck its most devastating blow. Some 75 per cent of these plants were lost. The frost lifted labels and plants, the bright sun dried them out, and when I returned it was too late. Frost-lifting is the worst plague we have to endure: a pouring wet day can be followed by sharp frost. I keep a heap of stones about the size of half a brick to hold down YEAR BOOK 1970 31 heathers which are planted in the fall, but spring planting is safer. Frost on wet ground without snow is deadly. The situation was becoming serious, with a lot of bare ground and few plants. I threw my tobacco money into the fray to buy more plants as the schedule of planting was getting behind. Some 2,000 cuttings were taken in the spring with good results and my glass jars were made ready to cover them in November. Cuttings have now been tried from arborea to carnea with success. If my first frame of cuttings had not failed, much valuable experience would have been lost to me. My mis- fortunes have been due to ignorance and lack of foresight, the solving of them unorthodox but very satisfying. My rows of jars bring howls of derision from my family who find them amusing, youthful sharpshooters are tempted beyond endurance, but on the credit side nocturnal feline excavators are completely baffled. I rest content. Ss Heathers in North Carolina, U. S.A @ Helen Allen, North Carolina, U.S.A. Following my enquiry in the spring of ’65 to the Heather Society about the possibility of heather cuttings being sent to the U.S.A., three members very kindly sent me 44 different kinds: Callunas, Daboecias, and Erica carnea, E. cinerea, E. vagans, E. ciliaris, E. Tetralix, E. x Watsonii ‘H. Maxwell’ and EF. x darleyensis. They arrived in three batches and were planted as follows: Ist Batch April ’65. Fifty per cent sterilised sand and sphagnum peat with sand topping and. the whole enclosed in plastic. Only 10 per cent rooted. . 2nd Batch May ’65. Same soil mix as first, no sand topping but with plastic cover. About 40 per cent rooted. 32 THE HEATHER SOCIETY 3rd Batch June ’65. Same soil mix again, no sand topping and no plastic cover, but watered each day with fogger-nozzle on my hose. Ninety per cent rooted. There was a great loss of plants after they were trans- planted to three-inch peat pots, even though I used the same mix. I started with about 500 plants in the late fall and kept them in the greenhouse all winter. About 350 were left to pot into one-gallon containers in the spring. More died during the summer, but about 200 survived till the next year and grew into beautifully shaped shrubs which bloomed. More were lost from neglect due to family illness, followed by further losses, after they were planted out into the garden last fall (68), even though I carefully prepared the soil with large quantities of peat and well- rotted oak leaves. The obvious point is my repeated loss following trans- planting. Despite extreme care and regardless of whether it is in the greenhouse or out in the garden, the act of trans- planting kills off many plants, including seedlings and plants of rhododendrons and azaleas that I have raised. My soil has been tested for pH, disease, element content and so forth, but no cause was found there, so it is a problem I am still working on. If any member can offer a solution, it would be appreciated very much. I now have The Heather Garden, by Fred J. Chapple, and it has helped immensely with every problem but this dying off. At present I have about 40 plants including some of all the species that I started with, so the problem i is not within a particular species. Erica carnea and E. vagans do very well and make a plant 24 inches or more across in two or three years and grow and bloom as if they were natives. Carnea never fails to amaze people when it blooms through snow and ice. Some Callunas and all the Erica vagans stand the full sun here, but the rest of the heaths and heathers prefer the partial shade under my pine trees. Calluna ‘Silver Queen’ does especially well and I had been afraid it might be one of the hardest to handle. Calluna ‘County Wicklow’ is outstanding as the best double and Calluna ‘Tricolorifolia’ seems to be very hardy here. Even Daboecia cantabrica does quite well YEAR BOOK 1970 33 under the pines and [ had had no idea it would stand our severe winters at all. I also grow with the heaths and heathers three plants native to North Carolina, Leiophyllum buxifolium, Azalea nudiflorum and Azalea calendulaceum. The cinereas usually start to bloom the last week of April, followed by Erica Tetralix at the beginning of May. Erica x Watsonii ‘H. Maxwell’ is in flower by the first of June and as a rule the Callunas are a mass of colour by the first of July. Erica vagans flowers for weeks from the middle of June. The carneas finish the old and start the new year by blooming from November till February. The weather here in North Carolina can vary from 106 degrees in the summer to —5 degrees or —6 degrees in the winter, when we sometimes have terrible ice-storms and usually quite considerable snow. But it is just as apt to be torrential rains followed by a week of zero degrees with the wind blowing like mad. The summer heat _ usually begins in April and lasts until October, the extremes varying from five or six weeks of drought to six or seven inches of -rain in an hour or two. The average rainfall is 46 inches per annum and gardens need high retaining edges to prevent the soil from washing away. To keep the moisture content from fluctuating too much, I mulch the heathers every August with about three inches of whole pine-needles and fertilise with cotton-seed meal in the first week of April and July. I usually run a mixture of pine needles and old oak leaves through my leaf shredder and put a layer of this under the whole needles, not working it into the soil because of its nitrogen-robbing factor. If a sprinkling of fertiliser with a high nitrogen content is applied to the shredded material no harm will come to the surrounding plants. As my basic soil is sticky red clay I have to work constantly to add organic material, but after seven years of work my flower beds all have crumbly dark brown soil. As I am attending Guilford College to earn a B.Sc. degree, and will not have much spare time, I feel that my heaths and heathers along with my azaleas and rhododen- drons will be a more or less work-free pleasure. I hope to try more cuttings again next year, specialising in those suitable for cut sprays. I have a ‘flat’ (shallow box) of two- year-old seedlings of an Erica species collected in South 34 THE HEATHER SOCIETY Africa, as yet unknown to me, and would very much like to try more of the Southern African species but I do not know of anyone here who raises them. ) Regardless of my unfortunate losses, the thought of eventually having heathers in my garden gives me immense pleasure, partly because they represent the kindness of the three members who sent them to me and also because of. the memories I cherish of the Haldon Moors above Teign- mouth. Two of the things I especially love about England, and have missed since I left, are the miles of gently un- dulating purple moorland when the heather is in bloom and the rugged beauty of the coastal cliffs. I never feel I have really come home until I stand on a cliff or beach and smell the salt air, or the heather on the moor. SS Plant Patents Statutory Instrument No. 1024 of 1969, “The Plant Breeders Rights (Trees, Shrubs and Woody Climbers) Scheme’, made by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food under the Plant Varieties and Seed Act 1964, came into operation on August 7th, 1969. This includes heathers of the genera Andromeda, Calluna and Daboecia and the species and hybrids Erica arborea, australis, carnea, ciliaris, cinerea, x darleyensis, lusitanica, Mackaiana, mediterranea, x Praegeri, scoparia, terminalis, Tetralix, vagans, x Veitchii, x Watsonii and x Williamsii in respect of which grants of plants breeders’ rights may be made, for up to 20 years. What are plant breeders’ rights ? _ During the period that the rights are in force, the holder may, for the plant variety (cultivar) in question, exclusively himself do or authorise others to do as follows (unless he has passed the authority to someone else)— (1) sell cuttings or plants, (2) produce cuttings or plants for sale, and YEAR BOOK 1970 35 (3) in the case of Calluna and Erica varieties produce and propagate plants for the purpose of selling cut blooms and foliage. These rights are exercisable only in the United Kingdom and infringement may be the subject of legal proceedings. For the protection in any other countries a separate grant of rights must be obtained there, where such are available. If anyone satisfies the Controller that the holder of any rights has unreasonably refused to grant him a licence, or has in granting or offering to grant a licence imposed unreasonable terms, the Controller may do this com- pulsorily. In the case of Calluna, Daboecia and Erica varieties any compulsory licence would not have effect until three years have elapsed from the date of grant of plant breeders’ rights; for Andromeda varieties this period is two years from the date of grant. The Plant Varieties Rights Office has published a “Guide to Plant Breeders’ Rights’ which can be obtained free from the Plant Varieties Rights Office, Murray House, Vandon - Street, London, S.W.1. The staff are most approachable and always ready to help: indeed, certain aspects of the scheme in draft were modified at the suggestion of members of our Society. They would welcome any queries from growers who wish to use the powers given by the Act. Fees These are currently: (1) An application fee of £10; (2) Trials—at Wisley—last about three years and cost annually £15; (3) When rights are granted, there is a fee of £20; (4) Renewal of rights thereafter costs annually £25. We are grateful to Mr Michael Evans, of the Plant Varieties Rights Office, for helping with this note. Sp 36 : THE HEATHER SOCIETY Daboecia cantabrica at home D. A. Richards, Eskdale, Cumberland As I said last year, ‘The really industrious heather seeker should go to the Basque country where one may find any sort from Daboecia to Erica arborea’. One may but one won’t. And so I talked myself into it. Landing at Bilbao, I headed for the Pico de Gorbea, chosen for its size. In little more than an hour I found the Daboecia of the Cantabrian Mountains at home. Map reading to the mountains and on the mountain is usually straightforward, but at the end of the made-up road there is often a complex of paths to farms, barns and fields that leave one at a loss. So at the end of the road I asked a peasant woman by repeating ‘Pico de Gorbea’ and raising an eyebrow. She pointed to me with a look of horror and said ‘Solo, solo, solo?’. I nodded. Her vertical index finger was then passed slowly across her chest while her head wagged at a higher frequency. My nodding continued until I won the argument. Conceding the point, she then pointed to my feet, then raised both hands. I got the message: ‘Shut up and stand still’, and did just that in considerable perplexity while she ran off to her cottage. Surely she did not want to come too? In a moment she was back with an umbrella for me. No good Basque goes anywhere without one. The route follows a forest track, deep in pale yellow mud, but quickly very rewarding. Wherever the amount of rock precludes the planting of trees, Daboecia, Calluna and Erica vagans and ciliaris throw a riot of colour. There is little justice in this world and the hard worker will find that, as the trees peter out and bracken and grass take over, the heathers get less and less. Among the trees and rocks where they flourish the soil is what I term ‘ornery, orrible’. It looks like pale yellow clay with no visible organic matter but the reaction is strongly acid. Although it looks so horrible, perhaps that yellow soil in the new Heather Garden at Harlow Car is not so unsuitable after all. I had made a good start and so to lunch. Due entirely to my inability to speak Spanish it was a disaster and we will YEAR BOOK 1970 Sy say no more about it. Forgetting my high ideals I made straight for the French frontier, good food and comfort. I should also confess that I cheat. Before a trip like this I beg information from any contact I can find. One, a French Professor of Natural Science, told me that Daboecia could be found at Itxassou; another, an Englishman who knows the area, told me that a good reasonable hotel could be found at Itxassou. I went. The Frenchman also told me that Calluna vulgaris var. hirsuta could be found near the southern tip of the lake near Leon. It grows in the wet woods with ordinary Calluna, Erica ciliaris, E. Tetralix and E. cinerea. Under these conditions it grows to over three feet. It flowers much more freely, the flowers are more bluish and the stems are more brittle than the normal Calluna with it. It is more ‘showy’ than ‘Silver Queen’. In Fournier’s Les Quatres Flores de la France he stated that Daboecia cantabrica is found up to 1,300 feet, and so it is: the normal type with which we are all familiar. However, _above this height, or rather above the tree line, it grows in a curious stunted form, usually about three inches tall, flowering freely with bells of the normal colour and size. This form persists to over 3,000 feet. From Itxassou to Urepel, in the Aldudes Valley, there is Daboecia all the way for some 25 miles. On the left just before Urepel is a magnificent mountain face. The surface is of rotten rock with some dramatic sheer faces and a boulder balanced precariously on top. Daboecia, Cailuna, E. cinerea and E. vagans make a wonderful show and there is a little E. ciliaris at the bottom. The Daboecias are dwarfs with very short internodes. I have brought a few back to see whether they will revert to their normal habit. Along the other bank of the River Nive is the Laxia Barrage, the specific point given to me as the home of Daboecia. The steep rocky valley is really lovely, and most exciting if you meet a mad driver on one of the bends. From there the track, all well surfaced if somewhat steep, makes its tortuous way to the summit of Mount Artzemendi. This is dominated by the two huge dish aerials of the “Posts and Telegraphs’, which are the reason for the road. The views from the top are terrific (3,000 feet) but the mountain 38 | THE HEATHER SOCIETY is not in itself beautiful. To a heather-hound it is dis- couraging, a ridge covered in slippery mountain grass on one face, and a precipitous slope, littered with loose rock, on the other. A careful search brought some surprises. Actually on the ridge I found a bit of everything, including one Daboecia. It was a dwarf, growing on a rock that dropped sheer for some 15 feet on the steeper slope. Floating through the vertigo as I took the photograph came the words ‘Found in the bogs of Connemara’. My reference book gives this as the home of Daboecia, so I had tried at home to imitate such a site with lots of peat and water. I now found that it also likes mountain tops. Parallel to the Aldudes Valley are two passes climbing into Spain, to the West the Col Otsondo, and to the East the Col de Ibaneta, which is over 3,000 feet. They show similar distribution patterns with plenty of Daboecia right to the summit on the Northern face but little or none on the South. A facile answer would be that it is the amount of sun that is the governing factor. But so often it is found on very dry sites, mere cracks and ledges that catch a lot of sun on the Northern side yet it is missing in shady ravines on the South. After days of wandering in the hills and pondering the exceptions I think I found the answer. Daboecia appears to thrive where clouds and mist are most persistent, provided the soil is acid. I would have thought that peat was beneficial but it appears to be unimportant. I found seedlings and young plants thriving on newly exposed soil resulting from a land-slip that could not have contained any humus. Connemara, too, has a moist atmosphere and a rocky soil but ‘not a tree high enough to hang a man nor enough soil to bury him’. Another point giving food for thought is that so often the colour of one heather would lead to others. On Artze- mendi I did find the six mentioned (Calluna vulgaris, Daboecia cantabrica, Erica ciliaris, E. cinerea, E. Tetralix, E. vagans) all growing on one tiny ledge. They seem to like the taste of each other’s root fungus. Surely, their needs being similar, one would expect the more robust would starve the others out. The southern faces of these mountains bear a- flora similar to the High Pyrenees with plenty of Colchicums, YEAR BOOK 1970 39 and heather principally represented by Calluna and E. vagans, and Daboecia and E. cinerea bowing out. But I did not find any E. arborea there. Daboecia looks at its best in nature growing in crevices in steep rock above the river. The main stems hang down the rock and the laterals arch upwards smothered in bloom. Under these conditions they live to a ripe old age; I measured the main stem of one with a circumference of three inches some two inches from the rock. The Cantabrian Mountains are the continuation of the Pyrenees along the North coast of Spain, so I felt I must rough it there for a few days. Time was too short to do the job properly but Daboecia is common along the coast at least as far as Santander. The mountains drop precipitously to the sea and along the cliffs Daboecia lives happily. In my limited experience it was particularly fine along the Cornisa, the cliff road from Deva to Lequeitio, West of San Sebastian. Back home I feel that I have learned more than if I had visited every garden in the kingdom. My gross specimens each cover about a square yard, but in future they will go on a diet; a steep rocky bank will be the site for my young plants.