Trees and Shrubs for English Gardens

by E. T. Cook

The Heaths are happiest in a peaty soil. The great Heath nurseries are all on soil of that nature, but it is not essential. A loamy medium can, by adding leaf-mould and, if necessary, sand, be made to suit all the Heaths, and some, such as E. cinerea and E. mediterranea, are quite at home on a calcareous soil. Choose positions for them well exposed to the sun, with, if possible, a cool, moist bottom. The ways of planting vary, of course, according to the character of the species and varieties selected. The rather free-growing and taller Heaths, like lusitanica and arborea, may be planted in informal groups on sloping banks, or more sparsely with a dwarfer species like E. carnea as the groundwork. E. lusitanica and E. arborea, being somewhat tender, are only seen at their best in the south and west, but beautiful effects have been got by planting them in irregular and scattered groups on grassy slopes. The natural grouping of Gorse and Broom suggests a way of using the many beautiful Heaths.

E. mediterranea and its varieties, a beautiful group, and much hardier than the two species just mentioned, have flowers of shades of purple and white. Delightful effects are possible when they are planted in bold, informal groups, especially on sloping banks or ground, their flowers appearing over a period of ten or twelve weeks. Dwarf Heaths, like E. carnea, c. alba, cinerea, &c., may be used as edgings to beds of heathy plants. I am indebted to Mr. Bean for the following excellent notes about the Heaths, and the reason this group has a chapter to itself is to encourage a greater use of shrubs, strangely neglected in English gardens. The beauty of Heath in bloom appeals to poet and painter. Moorlands surfaced with colour, hill upon hill of softened shades fading away in the distance, are pleasant memories—pictures beautiful enough, we should have thought, to tempt the planter of the English garden to reproduce in a small way in the homelands. I hope this chapter will do something to make the beautiful wild Heaths and their varieties welcome in rough, peaty grounds and banks, and the many other places where they would be as happy as on their native moors and hillsides.

The Taller or Tree-like Heaths

Erica arborea.—This is the most remarkable of all the hardy Heaths; it grows to quite a small tree. In the Isle of Wight, and doubtless elsewhere, it has been known to grow 30 feet high, with a trunk 39 inches in circumference. It is found wild in considerable abundance along the Mediterranean coast region between Genoa and Marseilles, the wood being used in the manufacture of the so-called Briar pipes, Briar being a corruption of the French word Bruyère. All the Heaths flower with great freedom but none more so than E. arborea and its near ally, E. lusitanica. The flowers are almost globular and nearly white; they are quite small individually, but produced so abundantly that the plants are smothered with them from March to May. My experience of this species is that it is hardier and thrives altogether better in the London district than E. lusitanica, a species for which it is often grown. It ripens seed every year almost, and can thus be readily increased in a natural way. The young wood is densely covered with short dark hairs and the leaves are closely packed in whorls of three.

E. lusitanica (syn. codonodes).—Many will not recognise the name lusitanica as applied to the well-known E. codonodes, but lusitanica is really an older designation. This Heath, as its name implies, comes from Portugal; it is also a native of Spain, and is often confounded with E. arborea. Briefly, they differ in the following respects: The flowers of E. lusitanica are longer and more bell-shaped than the globular ones of E. arborea; the foliage of E. lusitanica is a rather pale green, and has a rather more plumose look, the individual leaf being longer and more slender; the young wood, although downy, is not so hairy as in E. arborea. The remarkable abundance of flowers, a feature of E. arborea, is quite as apparent in this species, their colouring is a faintly pink-tinged white. From Messrs. R. Veitch and Sons, of Exeter, who are taking a special interest in these tree Heaths Kew has lately received a form intermediate between E. arborea and E. lusitanica—probably it is a hybrid. E. lusitanica does not apparently grow so large as E. arborea, but it is recorded to have reached 12 feet in height in Sussex. Farther west, in Dorsetshire, it grows luxuriantly, and is certainly one of the loveliest of evergreens that can be grown even in that favoured county. Seeds afford the best means of propagation.

E. australis.—One of the most beautiful and rare of all the Heaths, but unfortunately it is not so hardy as the majority. In the southern and western counties, however, it will thrive admirably, withstanding 20 degrees of frost without serious injury, provided the winter is not unusually protracted. It is curious that in spite of its beauty it is little known even in Cornwall, Devon, and similar localities, where it would doubtless thrive to perfection. It has been grown at Kew for the last six years, and although the winters during that period have not been very severe, it has stood out all the time, and it flowers regularly and profusely every spring. It can be increased by cuttings put in at the end of July or the beginning of August. E. australis is a native of Spain and Portugal; it flowers in April and May, and lasts eight weeks in beauty. The flowers are rich, bright, rosy red, brighter, indeed, than those of any other Heath; they are fragrant, pitcher-shaped, and about a quarter-inch long. The species has been confounded with E. mediterranea, which often does duty for it, but it is distinguished by having the flowers produced generally four or eight together in terminal clusters. (Those of E. mediterranea appear in the leaf axils.) Those who have gardens in well-sheltered or mild localities should grow this beautiful Heath. The difficulty at present is to get hold of the right thing; I am glad to know, however, that some trade firms are taking it up. It is said to grow 6 to 8 feet high, but I have not seen plants half as high.

ONE OF THE BEST OF ALL HEATHS (Erica carnea).

E. mediterranea.—Of all the taller Heaths this is the one, I think, that deserves to be most freely planted in districts no warmer than the London one. The three preceding species, so beautiful when seen at their best, are more comfortable in the southern and western counties. Of sturdier constitution, E. mediterranea may be planted in large quantities with a view to producing broad effects. At Kew a group 70 feet across, planted three or four years ago, already makes a striking mass of purple each spring. The habit of remaining for a long time in full beauty, which is so marked a characteristic of the Heaths, is possessed to the full extent by this species. It is beautiful from March to May, and is all the more appreciated because the majority of the trees and shrubs that bloom at this season have yellow, pink, or white flowers. In the typical E. mediterranea the flowers are bright rosy red, but there is a charming white-flowered variety (alba), another with bluish foliage (glauca), and a dwarf one (nana). The flowers appear near the ends of the shoots in the axils of the leaves, and are pitcher-shaped. The name mediterranea is misleading, for according to Moggridge, the Mediterranean botanist, it is not a native of that region at all; it is rather of Biscayan origin, and is found in Western France and Spain.

On the boggy heaths of Galway and Mayo a form of this species is found; it is known as E. mediterranea var. hibernica, and grows 2 to 5 feet high. The typical E. mediterranea was represented in the Syon gardens seventy years ago by a specimen 10 feet high. Do any such noble examples remain in this country now? E. mediterranea hybrida has been already alluded to.