Planting heather in moderation can add cheer

Heather can be as pretty a plant in your garden as it is blanketing the bonny hills of Scotland.

And it looks especially pretty for a long time; its pink flowers unfolded back in July, and enough are still left this fall to spread a rosy haze over the backdrop of tiny, dark green leaves.

Good garden mates for heather include rhododendron, lingonberry, cranberry, lowbush blueberry, and heath -- all members of the heath family.

Heath looks similar to heather but blooms much earlier, in winter and spring, and its flowers have a greater range of colors, including white, various shades of red, even a few yellows and greens.

Heathers vary in their winter leaf color, so much so that you could also create a colorful winter garden just by planting different varieties. A sampling of winter color could include the gold leaves of Gold Haze, the red-orange leaves of Golden Carpet (gold in summer), the bright red leaves of Wickwar Flame, and the silvery leaves of Silver Queen. Come spring, leaves of most varieties change back to bright green.

The whole heath family is somewhat finicky about summer climate, and very finicky about soil.

They enjoy full sunlight, but do not like hot weather. A good place for them is on the east side of your house, where they can be shielded from the hotter, late afternoon sun.

Heath family members grow best in soils that are acidic, porous, moist and rich in humus. You can create these conditions by mixing a bucketful of acidic peat moss with the soil in the planting hole, then maintain a year-round mulch of some organic material, such as sawdust or shredded leaves, on the bed. Occasional sprinklings of pelletized sulfur further maintain acidity. These plants do not like rich soils, so fertilize lightly with an acidic-type fertilizer.

Heathers (and heath) are low, spreading plants whose thin stems turn upwards about a foot high.