Heather pruning

I know that once a heather has flowered you have to trim to keep them thick and healthy etc, by after flowering does that mean when all the flowers are dead, some of the flowers are partly finished but there is some brightness there and it seems a shame to take that off, particularly as i have an aversion to leggy plants and want to make the best of these, should I sacrifice another weeks flowering to ensure it is done properly.

 

I tend to wait til the flowering stem is nearly finishted. Then take a pair of shears to it. It reshoots quite quickly.

 

Acres of hill heather (Calluna vulgaris) are burnt off over autumn and winter to regenerate growth for the following years. I'm not an expert but I think patches are burnt on something like a 15-20 year cycle. Flailing also works.

For garden Ericas and Callunas it's safe to cut back hard after flowering to regenerate growth and maintain a nice shape. Old heather tends to be untidy and woody stems in the crown can split and let disease get a hold. Well maintained they are relatively long lived and can survive up to 50 years and will thrive on poor acid soils, tollerate the coldest weather and also baking droughts.

EDIT: Just to add, please, please, please do not buy the artificially dyed heathers! There are really beautful varieties available that don't need such 'improvement'.

[ 19. May 2006, 12:03 AM: Message edited by: frogesque ]

 

Frogesque, how do I recognize "artificially dyed"? I have something like 7 different heathers around my little pond (planted 2 years ago and so far never pruned, will start pruning this year as they are no longer baby heathers now), I got them all from the Speyside Heather Centre, do you think they are ok or should I be worried? They are all different colours and different flowering times.
PS our soil is as alkaline as you can get and the heathers have never been watered, less alone fed, and are doing great!

 

You'll be safe enough with the Speyside Heather Centre I would have thought. The dyed ones really look awfull and have foliage in tints of red blue and yellow. Typically they are in small pots in supermarkets and garden centres round about Christmas and Mother's Day. They are just very ordinary plants that have been dyed to give the colours and if the heather survives it will wash off/grow out in time. Normally they only live long enough to get through the checkout :(

I consider it to be an awfull and deceitfull practice that seems to be finding its way into other plants like chrysanths etc.

Normally we do associate heathers with acid soil but I was born within throwing distance of the North Downs and though they weren't a feature of the chalk hills some species, particularly the bell heathers, thrived on the sandy soils on some of the Commons

[ 19. May 2006, 07:01 PM: Message edited by: frogesque ]

 

wishaw - no problem with recognition, they just look like something out of a kids painting book!

Oh and the concerts I do where they decorate the stage with such horrid specimins YUCK puts you off singing!!!

Yes they burn off the heather round us too AND bale it in hay bale stooks, I am told to send to places where it seeds readily?

 

I bought some very pretty pale yellow flowered heathers last year for my front window box. They didn't look garish or artificial but I think they must have been dyed as they gradually faded to white! I forgot to trim them and now they have tufts of green growth above the flowers!