is heather a good ground cover?

I have a few, they are very slow growing in my garden. I planted them in April and they haven't done much all Sumer. I've decided to clip the top growth to encourage them to spread outwards. The spray painted/dyed ones are ridiculous aren't they!

 

If you don't have acid soil (or planted Erica carnea varietiy) it ain't going to work, sorry

My local garden centre last September

 

gosh they ARE bright lol mine are not those colours lol

 

None of those would be that colour next year either, if you were to plant them!!

 

Cough Cough....

Hum I've got several of those hideous heather's in my garden

Not my choice, but hubby insisted on getting them, a Blue, Green and Yellow... He and the kids think they are 'cool' alas me and Jones one of my dogs think otherwise... Jones reaction to them is to cock his leg over them and the other day when he had a dodgy tummy he threw up over one of them!.....

So I be able to let you know if they keep their colour next year, that is of cause if they live long enough... I've got my fingers crossed they won't and Jones is determined to drown them so I assume he's got his paws crossed

 

lol ellie! ive not put many in but the dog has been sniffing a lot!

 

On sale again in my local yesterday - clearly you need a Scull or similar to set yours off, eh?

 

i saw some just like those at B+Q too ! not nice! the ones i got are not that bright lol

 

Just found this thread Maria , all has been covered . I have tried heather a couple of times but it always struggled ( died ) in my soil . We were camping at Treardur bay 3 weeks ago . The footpath to the beach went over some heath , this was full off gorse and heather in full flower , it looked amazing . So possibly poor rocky soil is where heather should be , not in our overfed and pampered borders.

 

Probably covered earlier in the thread, but it wants an acid soil (unless you plant E. carnea, which is winter flowering)