Wild heather from the forest planting and care in the open field

Do not be upset if you got a summer cottage on poor acidified soils. Use heather for the design of the territory, planting and leaving will allow you to get wonderful decorative thickets that give the cottage a magical mysterious atmosphere. At the beginning of summer, the flower bed acquires an autumn flavor: among the shrub covered with dark green foliage, there are specimens in which white, yellowish and orange leaves cover low bushes.

In July, the air is filled with a heady aroma, and clusters of white, pink, purple flowers bloom on the branches. Growing this evergreen shrub is possible even in areas where the owners come only on weekends.

The whims of a little bush

A small evergreen bush is not afraid of frosts: it can survive in the tundra. The plant is not afraid of a small shade, as it is used to growing in coniferous forests under tall pines. Although the complete absence of the sun, the bush is unlikely to like it. Heather loves acidic soils not rich in nutrients: sands, sphagnum bogs.

The plant cannot be called a long-liver, cultivation lasts no more than 30 years, adding 2 cm per year. During this time, a rounded decorative crown is formed. The height from the ground to the top is about 60 cm. Breeders have bred varieties with different flowering periods. If you skillfully combine them, you can arrange a recreation area on the site, drowning all summer in flowering thickets with a unique aroma.

An evergreen plant does not shed leaves for the winter, it does not need to be covered, protected from frost. Such winter hardiness is characteristic of varieties that have retained their natural endurance and survival, elite varieties paid for their beauty with resistance to natural conditions. They are weaker, do not tolerate severe frosts, and require shelter for the winter. It is better for inexperienced growers to start growing with semi-wild varieties.

Where heather likes to live

In nature, this shrub grows in the penumbra of pine forests or in open meadows. Create the same conditions for him in the open field: let the shade from the foliage of the tree cover the flowering thickets at noon, and in the morning and evening they bask in the cool rays. In the bright sun, the heather will survive, but the flowers will be small and wither quickly. Planting heather in full shade is also undesirable: the bushes will not please you with lush flowering.

If you are setting up a decorative corner in a swampy lowland, be sure to arrange good drainage. Heather loves moist, but not wet soil; if there is an excess of water, it will die. In arid places, the bush will live, it will feel especially great in winter, only its lush crown will not develop and after a few years the buds will stop forming. If you want to create your pets in optimal conditions, place them on an alpine slide.The rocky coating will prevent moisture from completely evaporating, and excess water will drain down.

In order for the plants to develop well, the distance between them should be at least 50 cm. In order not to buy extra planting material, make a calculation based on the area of ​​the flower bed. For each m2, you can plant either 8 specimens of high varieties or 12 small bushes. With this arrangement, the bushes form a beautiful green carpet, and will not suffer from crowding.

How heather multiplies

You can purchase planting material at flower shops. Please note that the shrub does not tolerate transplanting well. With the development of the root system, a mycelium forms around it, thanks to this symbiosis, heather can grow on poor soils: underground fungi supply it with nutrients. If you buy a plant with clean roots, the bush will have to take root for a long time and create an appropriate environment around itself. It is better to purchase seedlings in containers that can be cut and placed in open ground, the root system along with a lump of soil and underground inhabitants.

You can buy a bush with green leaves, plant it according to all the rules, but after a while the plant will die. You may have purchased an already dead seedling, this shrub does not immediately shed its foliage after death. You can choose a healthy plant for several reasons:

1. The twigs bend well.
2. New buds appear lighter in color than old ones.
3. The soil in the container is well moistened.

You can propagate heather by seed. To do this, put grains on wet soil, sprinkle them with earth and cover with a film. Seedlings appear in a month, then a year and a half continues to grow seedlings at home. In the summer, take out the pots to fresh air, there the plants will develop better. The grown bushes can be planted in open ground.

It is much easier to get planting material by cuttings or dividing the bush. In the fall, cut off the tops of the shoots that have finished flowering and plant them in pots of soil. For better rooting, the slices can be dipped in a root stimulant. It is undesirable to dig and transplant the bushes, but if necessary, you can separate a part of the plant along with the root system with a shovel and transplant it to another place.

Planting young bushes

The best time to plant bushes in open ground is spring. By autumn, the plants will root well, get stronger and gain strength for wintering. It can be planted in the fall, but then there is no guarantee that the heather will tolerate the cold season well. Do your work in the late afternoon so that the hot sun does not prevent the seedlings from taking root.

Dig holes 25 cm deep and pour over them with slightly acidic water. Place the roots of the plant in the hole and spread them out so that the shoots are horizontal. Bury the plant and lightly shake the ground around it. Be sure to water the plantings so that the soil lies tightly without air spaces.

After planting, cover the ground under the plants. You can use sawdust, peat, compost, just be sure to add to the forest soil mulch. It contains the mycelium, which heather needs to obtain nutrients. Cover the surface with fine gravel or pebbles, they will reduce the evaporation of moisture.

Caring for unpretentious bushes

Heather care consists of several simple operations:

• watering,
• spraying,
• pruning.

Plants have a dense but short root system. When the top layer of the soil dries out, the shrub begins to suffer from a lack of moisture. Moisten the soil under the plantings constantly to keep them thirsty. Loves heather and humid air, spray it morning and evening and the bush will always look fresh.

Advice! Install a drip irrigation system under the heather bushes to ensure constant and even soil moisture.

Young bushes that have not yet released buds do not need to be trimmed. In adult specimens, prune old branches after flowering.To increase the decorativeness of the flower garden, give the crown a beautiful shape when pruning. Try to cut off young branches and preserve as much as possible those that have already become stiff: new branches will develop from them.

Heather is used to living in cold regions, winter frosts are not terrible for him. Only too much cold with strong wind and no snow cover can damage. If you experience this kind of weather, cover the bushes with spruce branches for the winter. Do not forget to remove the shelter in the spring so that with the first warmth the plants begin to develop.

Pests hardly attack heather, they do not like tough leaves. Plants rarely get sick, but if you notice a brown tint on the leaves, or wilting of the upper part of the shoots, a fungal infection has struck the bush. To prevent this from happening, make sure that moisture does not stagnate in the soil, and do not overfeed the plants with fertilizers. Treat diseased specimens with antifungal drugs. If parts of the bush begin to deform or change color, the bush is damaged by a virus. Dig up and burn diseased specimens, and treat the earth and healthy plants with disinfectants.

Conclusion. If you like exotic, decor with a touch of mysticism, mystery - plant heather in the garden. Create an alpine slide with rhododendrons, ferns, low conifers, and heather for a great rest and relaxation spot. You can plant varieties with colors of different colors and create a colorful arrangement. A wonderful scent will add its own touch to the perception of an exotic landscape.

When choosing varieties, you need to take into account that the more the breeders have worked on the species, the more capricious the plant turned out to be. Varieties that are not much different from their wild ancestors do not require special care, they only need moist soil. Bushes obtained by numerous crosses and cross-pollinations are more demanding both in care and in growing conditions. Start with simple specimens, they are also very beautiful and will help you create a unique design for your summer cottage.

The genus heather has only 1 species called "common heather", which, however, is divided into several dozen varieties, different both in the color of flowers and foliage.

The plant is remarkable and very valuable in floriculture, since it forms in places of growth a thin layer of acidic soil depleted in minerals of a dark gray color with admixtures of white sand - the so-called "heather soil" which is considered an excellent flower soil. Heather is also distinguished by its melliferous qualities, producing heather honey.

Varieties and types

Common heather grows in the Russian Federation, Asia Minor, Africa, it is also called wild heather loves coniferous forests, sands, marshlands and tundra. This is an evergreen, not tall (from 20 to 70 cm in height) shrub with a compact, almost rounded crown and dark brown bark.

Its dark green foliage measures about 2 * 1 cm in length and width, and lilac-pink (rarely white) flowers form dense, tassel-shaped inflorescences up to 25 cm long. It blooms from July to August with the formation of fruits in the form of 4-leafed bolls up to 2.5 cm in length, life expectancy is about 30 years, endowed with decorative properties during the period of rich and long flowering, great importance is attached to beautiful leaves.

Winter-hardy, therefore it is able to winter uncovered. Thanks to the efforts of cultivators, in our time there are many varieties of common heather, conditionally divided into several groups: heather with green foliage, with green foliage and whitish flowers (white heather), with silvery foliage, with golden foliage, with double flowers, with non-opening flowers ...

Indoor heather includes 2 varieties most adapted to home conditions - heather slender and wintering... The first is characterized by a height of up to 40 cm, light green leaves up to 5 mm long and pink-red bell-shaped flowers up to 10 mm in length, placed at the ends of the lateral stems in 4 pieces. The second grade is characterized by a bush height of up to 50 cm and enlarged (up to 2 cm in length) white bell flowers.

Heather decorative - these are representatives of heather varieties, in which decorativeness manifests itself in an annual long and lush flowering for about 2 months. This includes, for example, the variety “Allegro”Belonging to the green-leaved group. It can reach 60 cm. The crown is 50 cm in diameter. Red flowers are collected in oblong inflorescences. The variety is winter hardy, recommended as a ground cover plant.

Garden heather - those varieties that are most effective in group plantings in heather gardens. These include the above described “Allegro”. Variety "Hammondii”Is a representative of the white heather group. Its height is 40 cm, the crown reaches 50 cm in diameter. The flowers form oblong (more than 20 cm) inflorescences. Resistant to drought, relatively resistant to winter frosts - with prolonged cold snaps, it requires shelter. Used on alpine slides.

Heather Boskoop from a group with a golden color of leaves it grows up to 30-40 cm in height, its crown in diameter is 40-50 cm. It is noteworthy that the color of the leaves of this variety changes from yellowish-green in summer to reddish-orange in autumn, while in young foliage is colored more intensely.

Thanks to the mauve flowers, Boskup falls under the external classification “heather pink”, Which includes many other varieties of heather. Its inflorescences are rather small (about 10 cm), slightly branched. Used as a ground cover plant.

Heather Red Star from the group with double flowers is also widely used in horticulture. Its height is 20 cm, and the diameter of the crown is up to 50 cm. The grayish-green foliage in spring and winter takes on a darker shade at other times of the year. Red double flowers are collected in dense inflorescences of more than 10 cm. The variety is extremely beautiful, with a more pronounced color of flowers compared to other varieties.

Non-opening variety - heather marleen has a height of up to 30 cm, a crown with a diameter of up to 50 cm and dark green foliage. The color of non-opening buds is pink-lilac or bright purple. Recommended, among other things, for planting in cemeteries.

Heather Kinlochruel - dense, spreading with a crown diameter of 40 cm and a height of 25 cm. The shade of the foliage in summer is variegated green with the onset of winter, becomes dark bronze. Very beautiful whitish double flowers are combined into loose tassels.

The varieties grown in Russia differ in both color and flowering time. The first to bloom “Alba praecox”(With white inflorescences) and“Tib”(With purple-pink) - the period falls on the beginning of July. They close the “flowering chain” of the variety “Alexandra”(With red inflorescences),“Alicia” , “Melanie" and "Sandy"(All - with whites),"Larissa"(With light red),"Marleen" and "Marlies”(Both - with purple) - in the last days of September - the first days of October. By skillfully combining varieties of heather, you can organize an original site that blooms until the end of autumn, while taking into account that certain varieties need to be covered in the fall.

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Heather planting and care

Planting heather at home or in the garden involves the creation of conditions close to natural - acidic soil, an illuminated area, sufficiently large volumes of moisture in combination with sufficient permeability of the soil.

For areas in which frosty winters prevail, heather should be especially moistened before the period of soil freezing. The optimal time for planting heather in open ground is considered to be the end of September - early October, or the second half of April - early May, and spring planting is more preferable.

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Watering heather

The presence of moisture is especially important when it comes to young heathers just bought from the store, because their roots are still poorly developed.Immediately after planting, it is recommended to water each heather bush with 5-6 liters of water and mulch the plantings with chips of coniferous trees or peat.

Heather responds well to mulching with leaf humus, sawdust, pine needles or crushed bark, which acidify the soil. At the same time, mulch inhibits the growth of weeds, protects the root system from summer heat and winter frost, and, most importantly, maintains the proper level of soil moisture.

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Heather transplant

Heather has an extremely negative attitude towards transplanting, and therefore it is better to think over all aspects of care and cultivation so that the plant does not have to be transplanted at all. First of all, this concerns the place for growth and flowering - you need to decide on it immediately and for a long time. It is recommended to buy heather in containers.

For heather, top dressing is not particularly important, because under natural conditions it grows on depleted soils.

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Pruning heather

On the other hand, annual spring pruning, which maintains the required shape and stimulates the growth of young animals, is downright obligatory. From the 3rd year after planting, they begin to carry out intensive pruning of heather, in which they try to maintain the shape of the crown.

Pruning looks like this - holding the top of the inflorescence with one hand, cut off half or two-thirds of the inflorescence with the other. The resulting residues are crushed and additionally mulched into the soil.

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Do I need to cover the heather for the winter

If you grow heather in a warm area, you don't need to cover it for the winter. In cases with frosty winters, moreover, not snowy, it is worth laying peat around the circumference of the bushes after the onset of cold weather, covering the plants themselves with spruce branches. The shelter can be removed in April.

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Propagation of heather by seeds

Propagation of heather using seeds is carried out at home, for example, in bags, without embedding in the soil. Seeds are covered with glass until germination occurs. The most suitable growing substrate is peat, coniferous or heather soil and sand in proportions of 2: 1: 1. The optimum temperature for germination is 18-20 ° C.

Seedlings should emerge 30 days after sowing. In the first week from this point on, you should maintain an increased level of humidity. In the summer, seedlings in boxes need to be taken out into the garden, grown, hardened. When one and a half to two years have passed, you can plant the plants in a stable place.

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Heather propagation by cuttings

For propagation by cuttings, cuts are made from powerful stems in the last days of August, but not from flowered shoots. Rooting is recommended in separate pots with peat and sand. The requirements for the substrate are looseness, poverty and constant moisture. Temperature - in the range of 15-20 ° С.

It is recommended to carry out constant foliar feeding with a rare urea solution and micronutrient fertilizers. After rooting, cuttings tend to grow faster and bloom faster than seedlings.

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Propagation of heather by layering

It is quite easy to propagate heather by layering. When summer comes, you need to sprinkle the ripened shoots with peat half a centimeter and fix it in the soil. After the development of the roots (a year after dusting is the usual period), the regrown seedling is carefully detached from the parent and planted in a stable place.

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Diseases and pests

Heather is not afraid of pests and is not often affected. Gray rot may occur due to stagnant water in the roots during the rapid spring thaw. It is expressed by a characteristic bloom on the stems, falling foliage or its withering away. In this case, it is necessary to carry out the treatment with fungicides, preferably Fundazol or Topaz.

If the symptoms intensify, it is better to treat with 1% copper sulfate 3 times a day at intervals of 5-10 days. For lesions caused by powdery mildew, young animals dry out and a white bloom on the leaves.Also, as in the case of rot, fungicides help with powdery mildew. It is worth noting that if the heather is in a soil that fully meets its requirements and receives proper care, it does not care for pests.

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Heather medicinal properties and contraindications

The medicinal qualities of heather are recognized in both official and traditional medicine. The compounds it contains have a sedative, sedative, expectorant, healing, antibacterial, diuretic and diaphoretic effect on the human body.

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Heather tincture

Heather tincture is used in the treatment of gastritis, dropsy, neurasthenia, inflammation of the kidneys and bladder.

You can prepare it as follows: take 2 tablespoons of plant materials and 2 glasses of hot water, mix thoroughly, keep in a water bath for 20-30 minutes, then leave for several hours.

After straining, you can take 2 tablespoons daily after meals. You should start with a single dose per day, subsequently bringing their number to 3. The duration of the course of treatment is a week.

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Common heather is a perennial evergreen plant of the heather family. An elegant and very unpretentious shrub. Southeast Asia is considered to be the homeland of heather, since it is from where it began to spread. Pine and mixed forests, peat and forest fires are places where heather shrubs can most often be found in nature. Many shoots that form a heather bush are densely covered with small triangular leaves with different shades of green. But some varieties of heather have leaves that are reddish, coppery, yellow and silvery gray.

Heather flowers consist of 6-30 flowers collected in lilac, pink, purple, white or yellow inflorescences.

Under natural conditions, plant propagation occurs most often by seeds. In cases of rooting of branches, a heather bush can have a diameter of 3 or more meters. The lifespan of heather reaches from 30 to 50 years, but the first time it blooms only after the age of five.

Heather is an excellent honey plant, pollinated by bees, wasps, bumblebees and other insects.

Where and when to plant heather

Heather has found its wide application in landscape compositions of city parks, backyards and garden plots. This shrub goes well with tall and dwarf conifers, as well as ferns, berry crops and low deciduous trees. On backyards and garden plots, heather looks very beautiful in flowerpots and decorative boxes. When a shrub grows in open ground, it takes from the soil only the amount of moisture that it needs to maintain normal life. This property of plants is called "physiological dryness". Heather also grows well at home as a houseplant, for example, the varieties "wintering heather" and "slender heather".

Soil composition

Heather grows preferably in acidic soils. If necessary, the acidity of the soil can be reduced by adding peat with sulfur to the soil or adding citric acid, acetic or oxalic acid to the water for irrigation. Heather grows worse, and can even die if grown on alkaline soils and applied in large quantities of organic matter. Ideal for planting this shrub is soil prepared from peat, sand, sawdust and soil in the following ratio: 3: 1: 1: 1. It is better to take the soil under coniferous trees from five centimeters deep. It is also recommended to add an additional 80 grams of sulfur to such a mixture.

How to prepare a site for planting

Best suited for planting heather is a sunny place on a flat or slightly hilly area.First of all, the top layer of soil is removed from the site, and then the prepared site must be compacted and poured with water, to which apple cider vinegar has been added. For a bucket of water, 100 g of 6% vinegar is enough. After that, the prepared soil is laid.

It should be noted that heather shrubs grow worse in well-groomed areas, due to the absence of the simplest fungi living with them in symbiosis there. The filamentous mycelium of these fungi helps the heather root system extract the nutrients it needs from the scarce soil.

Planting heather in open ground

Heather does not take root well in a new place, so it is undesirable to replant the shrub. And for the same reason, it is better not to plan the site for a longer time.

The shrub can be propagated in the following ways:

• With the help of root bends.
• Planting seedlings.
• Rooting of apical cuttings.
• By dividing the rhizomes.

Landing by branches

For this method, you need to dig a small hole next to the bush. Pick up a suitable branch and free it from the leaves, leaving only at the top. Bend the branch and fix its leaf-free part in the hole with a hairpin made from a piece of wire. And the part of the branch located above the ground gently rises to the top and tied to a peg stuck into the ground. After that, you should pour water into the pit and sprinkle it with earth. After rooting, the branch can be cut off from the mother bush. And next year, dig it out and plant it in another place.

Heather has the ability to reproduce by gadflies and independently in the presence of lodged rooted branches. If you sprinkle these bends with soil, then next year a full-fledged planting material can be dug up and planted in a prepared place.

Planting with apical cuttings

For this method of reproduction, at the end of summer, you need to cut off the lignified branches of heather. It should be noted that they should be free of flowering shoots. Mix in a container for planting three parts of peat with one part of sand. Plant cuttings in the prepared soil, watering moderately. Twice a month, it is recommended to add urea and trace elements to the water for watering planted cuttings. The optimum temperature for storing cuttings is a temperature not exceeding 18 degrees.

Planting seedlings

It is preferable to plant rooted seedlings in open ground in the spring, but it is possible to do this in the autumn as well. It is recommended to purchase seedlings in specialized nurseries, where they are sold in special containers. In purchased seedlings, all the roots are collected in a lump, so when planting, all the roots must be carefully straightened. If this is ignored, then the death of the plant may occur in the future.

Heather is planted in a wide, but shallow hole. To begin with, pour water into the prepared hole, and then place the seedling and bury it to the level where the root collar is.

After that, the soil must be compacted by hand and watered again. Then it is advisable to cover the soil around the seedling with sawdust, peat, and it is possible with chips of coniferous trees.

In order to rid the heather of excess moisture, it is necessary to arrange drainage on clay soils. To do this, the bottom of the pit for planting the plant must be covered by pebbles, chipped bricks or gravel by 2-3 cm.

Planting by dividing rhizomes

This is best done at the very end of August. First of all, the bush is carefully removed from the soil. All old dying stems are removed at the same time, and then, the root should be divided into several parts. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that young shoots are on each of the separated parts. Divided roots with shoots are planted separately and watered well. After that, the soil around the planted roots must be covered with sawdust, peat or pine chips.

It is possible to grow heather from seeds, but this is a long and rather laborious process, so most gardeners buy seedlings ready for planting.

Outdoor heather care

In order to provide full care for the plant and exclude its poor growth and diseases, it is recommended to use a complex mineral fertilizer for feeding heather every year.

To maintain the appearance of the garden in good condition, and to prevent depletion of the soil, it is necessary to carry out regular cleaning of the garden from weeds.

In order for the shrub to be thick and look more beautiful, in late autumn or spring, until the buds appear, it is necessary to cut off its upper branches by about 5 cm. The bushes should be cut so that they retain their "wild" appearance, because the bushes are too neatly cut not very attractive.

Heather is very difficult to survive severe frosts. Therefore, in order to prevent freezing of stagnant water and freezing of the plant, it must be grown on drained soils.

Diseases and pests

The increased humidity of the soil and air contributes to the defeat of heather bushes by late blight, which is a fungal disease. The disease manifests itself in that the foliage falls off the plant, a gray bloom appears on the trunks and shoots. Shoots, mostly young, bent downwards and die off. To cure the plant completely, all branches affected by late blight are cut off, and the bush is necessarily sprayed with a 1% solution of copper sulfate. Three treatments should be done with an interval of 10 days. For the purpose of prevention, it is advisable to do the treatment even in late autumn and early spring.

When heather is ill with powdery mildew, the leaves and shoots of the plant become covered with spots and light gray bloom, causing them to dry out. Against powdery mildew, it is recommended to apply spraying with preparations that contain sulfur or copper. For example, Topaz, Fundazol, Bayleton, Topsin, and others.

Heather bushes are rarely affected by viruses. But if this still happens, then there is a deformation and a change in the color of flowers and shoots. To prevent the spread of a viral infection, such bushes must be dug up and burned.

It should be noted that the presence of stagnant water in the soil, an excess of organic matter and mineral fertilizers can also lead to plant disease and cause withering of young shoots and a change in leaf color. For this reason, it is best to find a more suitable site for planting heather elsewhere.

The scale insect, which sucks the juice from the leaves of the plant, is the main pest of heather shrubs. To get rid of the pest, a soap solution is used with the addition of insecticides to it, with a wide spectrum of action.

Heather - description of the plant, tips for growing and care (video)

Growing flowers in the country is a favorite pastime of summer residents.

Even after a long day's work, it is pleasant to bend over to the flower bed and remove dried buds or pluck out a few weeds, inhaling the unique aroma of blossoming buds.

Recently, ground cover evergreen heather plants have become very popular.

What kind of plant

In the wild, this species is found:

• in the swamps;
• former, overgrown after forest fires, burnt places;
• in clean mixed woodlands.

The homeland of heather can be considered the regions of Southeast Asia. It became widespread in the European part of Russia, in the south of the Siberian region, and took root on the American continent and northern regions of Africa.

The evergreen creeping shrub was liked by gardeners for its soil-covering properties, it became noticeably popular when an interest in conifers arose. Looks good against the background of its relative - rhododendron.

Its useful to note: heather grows from 30 to 80 cm. Small, narrow leaves completely cover the twigs raised up. Blooms, depending on the variety, from mid-June to late autumn.

Some species bred by breeders are distinguished by a variety of colors of the bark of branches, leaves and flowers.

You can see a heather bush with leaves colored from brown, bright copper to shades of silver or gray. Flowers can be found in a wide variety of colors: lilac and lilac, white and yellow. Breeders are working on getting all the new shades.

Aroma and brightness flowers attracts many bees, bush is an excellent honey plant... During flowering, the bush is covered with inflorescences, collected in 20-30 pieces.

In the forest, when growing in the wild, it reproduces by itself by layers or seeds. It can grow over three to five meters in diameter. It begins to bloom at the age of 5-7 years.

It usually grows in swamps, where soils are not rich in humus, most often acidic, therefore, when planting and caring for heather plants in summer cottages, some features should be noted.

In summer cottages, in open ground, bushes can be planted as an excellent background element in rock gardens or as a ground cover plant in the trunk circles of large fruit-bearing trees.

It can be planted in a large flowerpot and grown in the winter, like an indoor flower, and transferred to a summer cottage lawn in the summer.

Note: bred varieties of heather can be counted more than five hundred with leaves and flowers of various shapes and colors, as well as the height of the shrub.

Shrub varieties

All heathers can be divided into three groups:

1. Dwarfs - widespread, low bushes (from 5 to 10 cm). Form areas in the form of bright rugs on the ground. Look great in rock gardens planted between large boulders or on the banks of water bodies;
2. Varieties with medium-sized plants - from 20 to 30 cm high. They form a curtain of incredible beauty when varieties with different colors of leaves and peduncles are planted;
3. Tall varieties - form thickets with a height of individual bushes up to 60 cm. Looks good both in individual plantings, and in heathers or large rock gardens. A beautiful spherical brightly flowering bush looks great against the background of dark spruce or pine plantings.

Note: In Russia, frost-resistant varieties are mainly grown, therefore, when buying, you need to inquire about the type, variety of heather and the tolerance of frosty winters.

Seat selection

In order to get a well-growing bush, you need to take care of this even when choosing a place for planting heather. The best option for planting will be acidic, well-moistened and loose enough soils.

In its natural environment, heather likes to settle in wetlands or in coniferous forests, where rotted needles predominate in the soil, which gives increased acidity.

It is worth considering: heather is considered quite unpretentious, but not all soils are suitable for it. It will not take root or bloom poorly on neutral and alkaline soils.

The longevity of a varietal bush in a suburban area can be about 20-25 years, so it is necessary to choose a site taking into account the durability and scale of its growth in diameter.

Gardener tip: the plant does not tolerate transplanting well, so the choice of a permanent place should be approached responsibly.

If the soil in the selected area does not meet the requirements for the growth of the bush, then it should be replaced in the planting pit.

For this, a substrate is prepared:

• peat chips or broken peat briquettes - 3 parts;
• forest soil from under coniferous trees - 1 part;
• river coarse sand - 1 part;
• old, overwintered sawdust, deciduous or coniferous species - 1 part;
• 70-80 grams of sulfur is added to the mixture and everything is well mixed.

In the place where the heather will grow, sod and soil are removed to the depth of a shovel bayonet. The entire area is lightly compacted and spilled with acidified water. So you can acidify the soil and allow the plant to take root and develop well in the future.

The solution is prepared by adding vinegar, citric or oxalic acid to the water. To prepare 10 liters of liquid, it is enough to add 100 grams of 6-7% vinegar to a bucket of settled water.

After watering, the future planting site is filled with the prepared substrate.

You need to plant a plant either in a sunny place or in a light partial shade... Heather bushes do not like dense, permanent shade, so you need to avoid deep shady places for planting on the site or blown by cold winds.

Agrotechnics

If it is decided to breed heather on the site, then the plants are planted with a step of at least 30 cm between the plants.

It is better to do this in a checkerboard pattern. Based on the color of the shrub and the flowering time, you can choose an original composition.

Having bought a plant in a container, it is worth noting that it usually comes with roots rolled into a spiral. Therefore, before planting, the heather in the container is watered abundantly and try to expand and spread all the root processes.

If this is not done, then the roots themselves are not able to straighten and the plant may die from a lack of nutrients and moisture, since all roots in natural growing conditions are located in a horizontal plane.

Planting is carried out in pre-prepared shallow pits, after which the earth is slightly compacted, trying not to damage the root system of the seedling, watered and mulched with peat, old sawdust or crushed bark of coniferous trees.

In leaving, heather is not picky. If the planting site is prepared according to all the rules and is occasionally watered with acidified water, then spring feeding with full mineral fertilizer, scattered under each bush, is enough for it, followed by mulching with the same materials as when planting.

Take into account: watering is done every two weeks.

The pruning procedure can also be attributed to plant care. Usually it is carried out in early spring to form a beautiful bush and as an impetus to the development of new branching shoots. Pinch all last year's shoots by half or 2/3 of the growth.

The breeding varieties do not differ in particular winter hardiness, therefore, the bush must be covered before the onset of cold weather. This is especially true for young plants.

Bushes with yellow leaves do not tolerate the winter cold, but it is better to cover all the plants.

The procedure is carried out in late autumn, by pouring a thick mulch layer (old sawdust, peat chips, needles).

The thickness of the layer should be at least 5 cm. A double covering material is laid on top and pressed with auxiliary means so that it is not blown away by the wind until the snow cover is established.

If spruce and pine trees grow near the site, then you can replace the covering material with spruce branches. In the spring, when the needles fall off, this will complement the acidification of the soil.

How does it multiply

There are several ways to propagate heather:

1. The most common method is layering. In this case, next to the branch intended for layering, they dig a hole and water it. The selected branch is cleaned of leaves, except for the top. Lay, bending so that the top remains above the ground. Pinned with a metal bracket and covered with soil. The upper part is straightened and tied to the support. After a couple of weeks, the layers will give roots.
2. Heather is propagated by apical cuttings at the end of the season. The woody branches are cut and buried in a simple flower pot, watering and feeding regularly. In the spring, the plant will be rooted and ready for transplant. When storing cuttings, the temperature should not exceed 18 degrees.
3. You can propagate heather with seedlings by purchasing planting material from a reputable nursery or botanical garden.
4. By dividing the rhizomes, propagate heather with extreme caution. At the end of the season, a bush is dug up and, without clearing it from an earthen coma, having cut off all the old shoots, they divide it into the required number of parts.

Watch the video in which a plant expert talks about caring for heather, a very unpretentious evergreen shrub: