Slowly but surely the time of magical heather is coming.
They will please us when other plants have long been resting during the winter months.
This is because heather can withstand frost and snow very well.
Now we will talk about how to grow heather so that it pleases us throughout the season.
What is the difference between them?
Heather – Blooms with tiny bells from late summer to late fall.
For the rest of the year, their leaves remain dark green and do not fall.
In winter, they change color to bronze to purple.They are therefore very popular even in the period when they are not blooming.
Heather – Evergreen shrubs that wake up to bloom.
They bloom in winter and some even start blooming in January.Heathers and sedges are very similar and basically come from the same family.
When you give them what they need, they are almost indestructible
Permeable and nutritious soil with an acidic reaction of pH 5. 5 to 6 is most suitable for heather.
Such a substrate can be obtained either ready-made in gardening centers, specially mixed for heather plants, or we can mix calcium-free soil with peat and sand.
The substrate for growing mushrooms is also ideal for heathers – moreover, this substrate contains all the necessary nutrients and you don’t have to bother with fertilizer or any other nutrition.
It is best to prepare the soil in the fall and plant the plants in the spring.
However, if you buy rooted plants in pots, you can heathland establish any time of the year.
Think everything through, because heather does not do well when transplanted.
Flowering requires as much sunlight as possible and to stay in one place.The heather root is a waste, it lives for about 15-20 years..
Never overwater heather..
Like lavender, heather needs well-drained soil.
The ideal soil for heather and heather is a mixture of peat or composted bark, topsoil and sand.
Another option is also a substrate for rhododendrons, which has an ideal pH.and once a year, preferably in early spring, shorten the shoots by roughly one third.
The bushes then bloom better and form a dense growth.
It is possible to fertilize only slightly in the spring with fertilizer for rhododendrons , which must not contain calcium.
A site near rhododendrons, azaleas and conifers is suitable.
Red varieties literally call for southern positions in the garden.
Green heather tolerates less light during the day better.
Therefore, do not forget to give the most colorful varieties enough light, otherwise they will stretch out unnaturally and will not be nearly as pretty.
The heather tolerates the cold and even a blanket of snow very well.
It is worse with too open wind positions.
And in such places, extremely dry soil is a frequent problem.
Watering: Mature heathers and heathers are watered only once a month , but never water in winter when it is freezing.
New grafts : New grafts should be pruned to encourage faster growth (early spring or fall).After planting in the soil, water the young plants twice a week so that the soil is covered and not flooded.
It is also recommended to mulch young heather and heather – choose an acidic mulch (pine needles, peat, leaves.).After two years, the heathers are so self-sufficient and durable that you can almost forget about them.
The beginning of autumn is the ideal time for the establishment of beautiful heaths
The moors should have an irregular shape with a gentle height division of the terrain; dry and wetter places will thus be created, which will meet the different requirements of the plants.
The smaller the available area, the more modest their species representation and color diversity should be.
Choose the ones you like the most from the wide range of color varieties.
Do not be afraid to combine different colors.
Always plant several pieces of plants in groups 25 to 50 centimeters apart, so that the growth is nice and dense.
Dwarf pines, junipers or thuja can form a backdrop on the edges, from deciduous trees, for example, dragon fruit or ivy, and in the background, of course, dwarf and small-flowered varieties of rhododendrons (rhododendrons and azaleas).
Over the course of a few years, they will create an amazing colorful mosaic.
Cut for beauty
In order for plants to bloom profusely, regular pruning is recommended, always after flowering.
So we shorten the heather shoots late in autumn, we cut the heather at the end of spring, while shortening the shoots about one third..
You have a huge variety of heathers to choose from
Some types of heather grow upright or creep, others create cushion-like surfaces.
The flowers are in different shades of color, depending on the cultivar, from white, pink, purple to red.
Beoley Gold – with bold yellow foliage and white flowers.
Crimson Sunset – pale yellow foliage and purple perfect flowers.
Marleen – with bicolor red and white flower, not fully developed, long lasting.
Ronald Haage n – Yellow leaf and striking light purple flower.
White Lawn – fully creeping heather with a white single flower.
Growing heather in a pot
Growing heather in a box or in a flowerpot is easy, as it is an undemanding plant.
It is necessary to ensure good drainage at the bottom of the container so that the water can drain away. A mixture of peat and classic garden soil in a ratio of 2:1 can be used for flower pots.
Adding bark will prevent the heather from drying out.
If you leave the container with heather outside during the winter, cover it with a non-woven fabric or cover it with polystyrene to prevent the roots from freezing. Even in winter, it is necessary to water, but only a little and preferably when it is softening.
Propagation by cuttings
Propagation of heather is very simple.It is enough if you get healthy cuttings with a length of approximately 5 cm.
We clean the cuttings (about one third), treat them with a rooting stimulator and stick the cleaned part into the soil.
We will use substrate for heather plants.Stick the cuttings into a larger pot at sufficient intervals or into separate pots.
Water so that the substrate is slightly moist.When the cuttings take root, we transplant them into the soil in the garden.
The ideal time is in the spring.
Medicinal effects
A lot of people don’t even know it, but heather is a lot of times in medicinal herbal teas.
It primarily has a beneficial effect on the kidneys, urinary system and the prostate itself.
It has very strong anti-inflammatory effects and dissolves urinary stones.
At the same time, it helps drain fluids from the body and thus has detoxification effects.
It calms the nervous system, improves sleep and also has a beneficial effect on rheumatic diseases.
In this case, it is enough to simply tear off (trim) the flower and let the flowering holly itself dry.
Your heather will not freeze
My mother-in-law also tried it and it really helped a lot, all the heathers in my pots survived.
I must also add that the heathers planted in the flower bed have always lasted beautifully, in autumn I put ordinary pine cones from the forest on the soil – they will perfectly protect the soil and thus the roots from freezing.
Pine cones have proven themselves much better than bark and other mulch.
It is also good to crush the pine cones a little, into smaller flakes. .
The thing about heather in a pot is that during the winter we simply place it on a polystyrene board – it is a perfect thermoregulator.
It was enough to do this and the heather thrived, even when it was freezing, they bloomed beautifully.
When it snowed, I didn’t water, I just put a lump of snow in the pot and when it melted on the snow, the heather had moisture at the same time.
It should be enough to give moisture once a week.
When they reported that the frosts go down to -20, simply wrap the pots with bubble wrap – that’s a guarantee that they won’t freeze.
And as for putting it on the polystyrene board, it’s enough to do it only at night when it’s freezing, otherwise there’s no need during the day.
Elenka Hološková, Ružomberok.
