Erica, Heather, Darley Dale Heath, Darley Heath, Winter Heath 'Kramer's Red'

I love it when people harshly judge a plant that they bought at Lowes or Home Depot and assume its the plants fault when it dies.
...Read More First off, try a real nursery where you can get good plants and good advice. Second, you're trying too hard. In central NC we grow this plant in full sun in our native soil amended with a little pine bark soil conditioner.

tried to establish several robust plants from Lowe's; only one is holding on and hanging by a thread; I ammended the soil with some gra...Read Morevel; and organic matter and wood chips; and placed the plant among some rock; but apparently that still wasn't enough; my next " experiment will be to split open the root ball and elevate the plant slightly above the surrounding grade; maybe this will help
Heathers and heaths are such great plants for late winter to relieve the "blahs " but apparently very finnicky to establish; .the folks at Hickory Hills Nursery ( specialist in Heather and heath ) suggested that too much sun may also be a problem because there is less sun in Scotland than here; so maybe some afternoon shade is desirable in the summer ?

Have had blooming in December but needs winter protection just in case. I usually put white pine branches around it. Snow cover is best...Read More. Very low temps (10 degrees? and below) without protection can cause to lose all needles and flower buds. Really does bloom in snow.