Winter Blooming Heath
Henry Z6(OH Zone 6b)
15 days ago
I just bought one of these wonderful shrubs at my local Lowe’s yesterday and it is safe to say that it is definitely a butterfly magnet! I found 2 butterflies this morning that couldn’t get enough of it! If you want a butterfly infested garden, plant this!
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Henry Z6(OH Zone 6b)
13 days agoRelated Discussions
heathers for the cold
Comments (8)The heathsandheathers.com site (see cranebillÂs post) does give good information. Here in the East, we get much of our information from rockspray.com. Rock Spray is a zone 6 nursery on Cape Cod, but they can be very helpful about which heathers are most hardy. Since you are more centrally located (east-westwise), I don't know which would give you better shipping rates, but both are worthy of investigation. The other posters here talk about protecting Calluna and Erica by covering them, after the ground freezes, with evergreen boughs. In your climate especially (Zone 3 is iffy for heathers), the importance of this cannot be overstated. And for strong springÂfall growth, be sure to site them properly: sun, water (until well established) with excellent drainage and with the soil conditions (acidic!) they want. Don't overlook the winter-blooming heaths (Erica), as many of them are very hardy with attractive foliage year-round. (They look great with grasses, too.) Here is a link that might be useful: Rock Spray...See MoreHeather and Paperbak Maple
Comments (3)Erica carnea and E. x darleyensis (winter blooming heaths) are blooming now and will continue to bloom throughout the winter (depending on cultivar). You will have your choice of flower colors, ranging from white to pale pink to the deeper purples. I also like including Callunas (heathers) for winter interest plantings - while they bloom in the summer and early fall, many have interesting fall, winter or spring foliage in oranges, golds or brick reds. Here is a link that might be useful:...See MoreMy Winter Garden
Comments (15)Sheila, tacking a question onto an old post (and one that requests email follow-ups) is not a very good idea, as the questions often get overlooked. And the OP gets unwated/unrelated emails!! Better to start a brand new thread. To answer your question, perennials for the most part are pretty hardy and will tolerate, and in many cases require, cold winter temperatures for necessary dormancy and vernalization. You just want to set your thermostat so that the pots do not freeze solid, potentially causing root damage. You do not want to provide so much heat that the plants continue to grow through winter - they need to go dormant. Personally, I'd probably not turn on any heat at all unless you are predicted to experience a cold snap with temperatures in the low 20's or teens for an extended period. Then just set it to keep the temperature just at or slightly above freezing....See MoreConfused about winters heaths
Comments (8)Fothergilla is a great plant and fully hardy for me, having survived a couple of winters where it reached -23 and had a week or so of top temperatures in the single digits. Here's my Fothergilla 'Mount Airy' in a couple of seasons. The buds are a bright chartreuse as they swell, followed by bottle brush white flowers. If the weather stays cool, they are of interest for perhaps 3 weeks. I find them a bit homely in the summer due to the seed heads, but they are on a SW facing patio which gets little use then, so not a problem for me. I guess you could do a quick shear after bloom to remove them if wanted. I do grow clematis that in summer spill from short trellises onto them along with perennials around their feet for summer interest. Here it is in the first week of November. It is one of the last shrubs to turn color here, about the time the oaks are ending their color. Please, I beg of you, don't plant Asian bittersweet! I know that you didn't ask for input on this, but your neighbors near and far will curse you. It's a disaster that isn't like goutweed that stays on the originator's property, but gets spread when birds eat the fruit and then deposit the seeds elsewhere with a dose of fertilizer. I am constantly pulling it from my own property and my in-laws'. (My MIL planted it unknowingly years ago, and though the original is long gone, the progeny continues. The farm next door to me contributes seeds to my property.) I have seen the weight of the vines pull down full grown trees in badly infested areas. The Asian version has berry clusters scattered along the stem in the leaf axils rather than a single larger clump at the end like the American (which I haven't seen trying to take over the world around here). Perhaps native insects or diseases keep it in check. According to the link above, even the native does seem to hybridize some in this part of the world, so even it might not be a great choice. Alternative sources of winter berries: Hawthornes or Ilex verticillata/winterberry holly have bright red berries usually until some time well after the holidays, and we usually had crabapples get eaten by the birds in February-April as they started to thaw when we had one at our former home. Jane has photos of the chokeberries getting eaten throughout February on the Birds and other Mobile Features thread (nice red buds as well), and mentions that her crabapples will be next. So there are berried alternatives. Or just string around some plastic bittersweet. I've seen some quite convincing ones....See More
diggerdee zone 6 CT
12 days agoHenry Z6(OH Zone 6b)
12 days ago
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
12 days agodiggerdee zone 6 CT
11 days ago
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
11 days agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
11 days agoHenry Z6(OH Zone 6b)
11 days agofloraluk2
11 days agolast modified: 11 days agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
11 days agoHenry Z6(OH Zone 6b)
11 days agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
11 days ago
arbordave (SE MI)
8 days agoHenry Z6(OH Zone 6b)
8 days agoHenry Z6(OH Zone 6b)
6 days ago
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Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A