Around the year 2006 I took my truck to Oregon to visit my Mother in Portland. While I was there she took me to a Heather nursery and I fell in love with the plants. I decided to bring some Heathers home and plant a Heather garden. I knew the climate in Grass Valley was much hotter and dryer than Portland so I bought home over 26 different varieties to see which ones survived.

Heather garden 13 years old

Here are some of the ones that survived:

Erica cinerea ‘P. S. Patrick’

Calluna vulgaris ‘Wickwar Flame’

Erica carnea ‘Loughrigg’

Calluna vulgaris ‘White Lawn’

Erica carnea ‘Springwood Pink’

Erica carnea ‘Springwood White’

Erica darleyensis ‘Furzey’

Multicolor Heather (Calluna vulgaris ‘Multicolor’) with night temperatures in the 30’s and 40’s.

Calluna vulgaris ‘Multicolor’ in June

Micromyrtus ciliata

Each 1 gal. plant received 2 1-GPM drip emitters and that is all the water they got 3 times a week for 60 minutes for 10 years. Some plants died but the others are tough and I filled in with them. Now once a month for 2 months in the summer I add water with a sprinkler which isn’t necessary but the plants look better.

I let the heathers grow too long before I trimmed them back. These photos show the bare wood is visible after cutting back. It is better to trim back more gently so the bare wood doesn’t show.

Six months after pruning back.

1 year after pruning

In another section of the garden the Heathers have grown too tall. In this area the Heathers are irrigated with spray heads and the Heathers were blocking the spray. So they were cut back severely on 7/1/2021.

Photo taken 6 months later.