Flowers small, lilac pink above (Hll), fading almost to white underneath; VII-VIII; foliage sometime plain green, some leaves pale yellow, others yellow underneath or yellow at tips, yellow colouring appears on sides of shoots but not in any regular manner but looking as if the shoots are “sun burnt”. Leaves small, largest to 0.4cm long, less than 0.1cm across, with tightly recurved margins so that lower surface is not visible, with woolly hairs on upper side, without marginal cilia or with a few only towards tip. Hairs not glandular. Stems with short woolly hairs; habit low-growing, somewhat sprawling; height 10cm.
Collected by Aidan Brady on Achill Island, Ireland, in August 1969, and since then cultivated at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin. Registered 7 November 1998: E. C. Nelson, Tippitiwitchet Cottage, Hall Road, Outwell, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE14 8PE, England.
Erica tetralix flowers shades of pink to purple
‘Allendale Pink’
Pink flowers, VI–IX; grey-green foliage; erect habit; height 26–30cm; spread 31–45cm. Collected on the Orkneys and introduced by Allendale Nurseries (West Midlands).
‘Ardy’
Deep pink-red flowers, VI–VIII; dark grey-green foliage; broad erect habit; height 21–25cm; spread 31–45cm.
Sport on ‘Daphne Underwood‘; found by H. J. van de Laar (Boskoop, Netherlands) in 1968; introduced by P. G. Zwijnenburg (Boskoop) in 1974. The flowers are smaller but are the reddest in the species.
Named after the finder’s daughter, Ardy van de Laar (Ericultura 60: 19 (1986)).
‘Arriba’
Flowers large, 0.7 cm long, amethyst above (HI), paler underneath, with prominent ruby (H5) recurved lobes, about 10 in each large cluster; VII-VIII; foliage grey-green. Leaves to 0.5cm long, to 0.2 cm broad at base, obovate, tapering gradually towards tip, with numerous long, glandular cilia, and woolly short hairs on upper side, margins not fully recurved so that lower surface is visible (sinus about 0.1cm wide), lower surface white; young shoots appearing white, covered with woolly short hairs and long cilia; older shoots tinged pink, later pale brown; habit bushy, upright plant; height will probably reach over 0.5m tall if not trimmed.
Collected by D. McClintock, E. C. Nelson and D. J. Small at Brandonas de Arriba, northwest of Santiago de Compostela, La Coruna, Spain, in July 1982. Registered 7 November 1998: E. C. Nelson, Tippitiwitchet Cottage, Hall Road, Outwell, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE14 8PE, England.
‘Bala’
Rose-pink (H7) flowers, VI–IX; grey-green foliage; height 21–25cm; spread 31–45cm. Similar to ‘Hookstone Pink’ but blooms a little earlier. Found by Lake Bala, Wales.
‘Beson’
Flowers, large magenta (H14); V1-IX; foliage grey-green; erect habit; height 20cm; spread 35cm.
‘Con Underwood’
Magenta (H14) flowers, VII–XI; grey-green foliage; height 21–25cm; spread 46–60cm.
Wild-collected; found in Aldershot area by Mrs C. Underwood (Woking, Surrey, England) in 1938; removed to the nursery where it survived, and introduced by G. Underwood & Son (Hookstone Green Nursery, West End, Woking, Surrey) in 1948.
Named after the finder, the wife of George Underwood (see Erica vagans ‘George Underwood‘).
‘Con’s Gold’
Flowers magenta; foliage green with gold tips in spring and early summer; habit erect. A sport on ‘Con Underwood‘ found by John L. Jones, Glywern Nursery, Cilcennin, Lampeter, Dyfed, Wales, in 1993.
‘Curled Roundstone’
Pale pink flowers, VI–X; grey-green foliage; prostrate with curling stems, but some may grow upright; height 10–15cm; spread 31–45cm. An interesting novelty, suitable for troughs, window boxes and hanging baskets, collected by Dr Charles Nelson, near Roundstone, County Galway, Ireland.
‘Dänemark’
Bright rose flowers, VII–X; grey-green foliage; low bushy habit; height 10–15cm; spread 31–45cm. Collected south of Hwidesande, on west coast of Denmark.
‘Daphne Underwood’
Deep shell-pink (H16/H10) flowers, VI–IX; grey-green foliage; compact habit; height 16–20cm; spread 31–45cm.
Wild-collected; found in Cuckoo Hill Valley, Chobham Ridges, Surrey, England, by Mrs C. Underwood (Woking, Surrey) in 1953; introduced by G. Underwood & Son (Hookstone Green Nursery, West End, Woking) by 1960.
Named after the wife of Ken Underwood.
‘Darleyensis’
Pale rose-pink (H7) flowers, VII–X; grey-green foliage; very distinctive habit of curled and crossed stems; height 10–15cm; spread 31–45cm.
Found by James Smith (Darley Dale, Derbyshire, England); introduced by James Smith in 1936.
Named from Darley Dale.
‘Delta’
Rose-pink (H7) flowers, VII, very sparse; grey-green foliage; dwarf and compact; height 10–15cm; spread 16–20cm. Useful as a trough plant. Named after the Greek letter ‘delta’ often used to depict small incremental stages.
‘Derry Gold’
VIII–IX; may be slightly more gold than ‘Ruth’s Gold‘ but hasn’t come up to expectations’.
Wild-collected; found on Derry Cairngorm, Scotland, by James Mackay (Dellside, Blairdaff, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire) by 1995.
Named after the mountain on which it was found and the foliage colour.
‘Foxhome’
Cerise (H6) flowers, VI–X; grey foliage; particularly neat, compact habit; height 26–30cm; spread 46–60cm.
Found at Foxhome near Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire, England, by F. J. Chapple about 1960.
Named after the home of a Dr Fuchs.
‘George Fraser’
Pale pink (H8) flowers, VI–IX; olive-green foliage; erect habit; height 21–25cm; spread 26–30cm.
Introduced in USA by 1967, and perhaps associated with a nurseryman of this name who lived at Ucluelet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Named sfter George Fraser (1854-1944) of Ucluelet was born in Scotland. His surname is spelled with s not z.
‘Gratis’
Pink flowers, VI–IX; light grey-green foliage; bushy; height 16–20cm; spread 26–30cm. Of North American origin.
‘Helma ‘
Lilac-pink (H11) flowers, VIII–IX, very free-flowering; grey-green foliage; bushy erect habit; height 21–25cm; spread 31–45cm. A beautiful heather.
Wild-collected; found on Kampina Heath between Boxtel and Tilburg, Netherlands, by M. Zwijnenburg (Boskoop, Netherlands) in 1965; introduced by P.G. Zwijnenburg (Boskoop) in 1967.
Named after the daughter of M. Zwijnenburg.
‘Helma Variegated’
Lilac-pink(H11) flowers, VIII–IX, very free-flowering; grey-green foliage flecked with gold; bushy erect habit; height 21–25cm; spread 31–45cm. A sport from ‘Helma’.
‘Hookstone Pink’
Rose pink (H7) flowers, VI–X; grey-green foliage; height 16–20cm; spread 31–45cm. Flowers and foliage make a good combination.
Wild-collected; found on High Curley, Bagshot, Surrey, England, by Mr & Mrs G. Underwood in 1953; introduced by G. Underwood & Son (Hookstone Green Nursery, West End, Woking, Surrey) by 1960.
Named after the Underwoods’ nursery, and the flower colour.
‘Humoresque’
Pink (H8) flowers, VI–IX, split into segments; grey-green foliage; height 10–15cm; spread 31–45cm.
Wild-collected; found near Newark, Nottinghamshire, England, by D. Lockie (Taunton, Somerset) in 1974; introduced by C. G. Hollett (Sedburgh, Cumbria).
‘Jos’s Creeping’
Soft pink (H8) flowers, VI–IX; green foliage, turning grey-green in winter; prostrate; height less than 10cm; spread 26–30cm. Collected in 1985 near Ploumanach, Brittany, France, by Jos Flecken (Kerkrade, Netherlands). Registered 23 December 1993: J. G. Flecken, Kerkrade, Netherlands.
‘Ken Underwood’
Deep salmon (H15) flowers, VI–X; dark grey-green foliage; height 16–20cm; spread 31–45cm. An unusually attractive plant.
Wild-collected; found in Cuckoo Valley, Chobham Ridges, Surrey, England, by K. Underwood in 1951; introduced by G. Underwood & Son (Hookstone Green Nursery, West End, Woking, Surrey) by 1960.
Named after Ken Underwood, the son of the nurseryman George Underwood.
‘L. E. Underwood’
Cerise (H6) flowers, VI–IX, the buds are salmon-coloured; grey-green foliage; height 16–20cm; spread 31–45cm.
Wild-collected; found near West End, Woking, Surrey, England, about 1937; introduced by G. Underwood (Hookstone Green Nursery, West End, Woking, Surrey) by 1951.
Named after George Underwood’s brother, Leslie.
‘Mary Grace’
Lilac-pink (H11) flowers, VI–X, usually split into curled segment; grey-green foliage; low neat habit; height 10–15cm; spread 31–45cm.
Wild-collected; found on the moors in Dorset, England, by C. D. Eason of Maxwell & Beale’s Nursery (Broadstone, Dorset); introduced by Maxwell & Beale in 1936.
Named by Charles D. Eason after his daughter (Yearbook of the Heather Society 4 (1): 33 (1993)). However it is also said that no-one is commemorated and that these were D. F. Maxwell’s two favourite girls’ names (Yearbook of The Heather Society 1971: 27).
‘Meerstal’
No flowers, the infloresence is replaced by l-2cm long hairy caterpillar-like shoots; “flowering” VII-VIII; foliage grey-green; height maximum 25 cm.
A monstrosity, found by J. Baron in August 1984 in the Balloerveld, Province Drenthe, Holland. Registered on 20 December 2005, by J. Baron (per J. Flecken).
‘Mollis’
Flowers pink; VI-IX; foliage grey; habit upright; height 30cm; spread 30cm.
In cultivation by 1874.
Named from mollis = soft
‘Pink Enigma’
Bushy dwarf shrub with upright shoots; foliage dark greyish-green; leaves usually in fours, broad, ovate, with a few long marginal cilia, sometimes with red-glandular tips especially those towards the apex of a shoot, otherwise upper surface glabrous, margins recurved, lower surface exposed, whitish green; leaves towards the tips of “abnormal” shoots may have pink tips or varying and increasing amounts of pink tissue resembling that of the corolla; in extreme examples, the upper portion of the shoots have no green leaves but have variously shaped pink, petaloid “bracts” which are longer and broader than the leaves; flowers may be formed and seem “normal”, or the flowers are grotesquely malformed; VII-IX. On shoots with flowers, leaves arranged in evenly spaced whorls of four, spreading, but becoming more widely spaced below inflorescence and also tending to become more erect and more appressed to the stem; flowers with densely hirsute ovary.
We do not know where or how this plant originated. Its known history commences when Brita Johansson was given a young plant by Jack Platt who, as past yearbooks show, was a very keen collector of new clones which he cultivated for a few years in his garden before replacing them with newer ones. Platt informed Mrs Johansson that he had obtained the plant from Ray Warner. Brita Johansson grew ‘Pink Enigma’ in her garden in Sweden, propagated it and passed a plant to Sten-Börje Sörensson who still cultivates it. It is apparently very hardy and was not affected by the extremely cold winter of 2010–2011.
® E.2011:01 registered on 17 September 2011 by Brita Johansson, Vargon, Sweden.
‘Pink Glow’
Magenta (H14) flowers, VI–IX, which fade as they age giving a bi-colour effect; grey-green foliage; neat habit; height 16–20cm; spread 31–45cm.
Introduced by Maxwell & Beale (Broadstone, Dorset, England) by 1927.
Name alludes to the flower colour.
‘Pink Pepper’
Pink flowers, VII–IX; grey-green foliage with white speckling; compact, slow growing; height 10–15cm; spread 26–30cm. An unusual plant; found at the RHS Gardens, Wisley, Surrey.
‘Pink Star’
Lilac-pink (H11) flowers, VII–X; grey-green foliage; height 16–20cm; spread 31–45cm. The flowers are most distinct, as they are held upright, whilst the type produces drooping terminal clusters.’*
Wild-collected; found in ‘a roadside field whilst motoring through Cornwall [England]’ by Mr & Mrs J. F. Letts (Foxhollow, Windlesham, Surrey) by 1963.
Name alludes to the flower colour and arrangement.
‘Renate’
Pink flowers, VII–IX; yellow foliage; cushion-like; height 10–15cm; spread 26–30cm. Found by H. Buchtmann (Varel, Germany) in 1985.
‘Riko’
Ruby (H5) flowers, VI–VIII; grey-green foliage; compact; height 21–25cm; spread 31–45cm. This has the darkest flowers of any Erica tetralix cultivar.
A seedling from ‘Tina‘ raised by Lothar Denkewitz (Hamburg, Germany) in 1991. ‘Samtpfötchen‘ is a sister-seedling.
Named after a grandson of Lothar Denkewitz.
‘Rosea’
Lilac-pink (H11) flowers, VII–IX; light green foliage; height 21–25cm; spread 31–45cm. One of the better cross-leaved heaths for flower although the colour is rather muddy.
A very old cultivar sent by G. Donn to Mr Cruikshank of Langley Park, Scotland, 4 October 1813.
‘Rubra’
Carmine flowers, VII–IX; grey-green foliage; bushy, compact habit; height 16–20cm; spread 26–30cm.
Named after the latin ruber = red
‘Ruby’s Variety’
Off-white flowers with ruby tips, VI–X, fading to salmon; grey-green foliage; neat spreading habit; height 21–25cm; spread 31–45cm.
Wild-collected; found in Dorset, England, by Miss R. Beale in 1920; introduced by Maxwell & Beale (Broadstone, Dorset) in 1921.
Named after Miss Ruby Beale, the finder, and not a references to the colour of the flowers.
‘Ruth’s Gold’
Pink (H8) flowers, VIII–IX; yellowish foliage in spring and summer, becoming lime-green with gold tips later; height 16–20cm; spread 26–30cm.
Wild-collected; found on Goonhilly Downs, Lizard, Cornwall, England, by Mr & Mrs Jack Platt (Ulnes Walton, Lancashire) in 1977.
Named after Mrs Ruth Platt.
‘Salmon Seedling’
Rose-pink (H7) flowers, VI–IX; grey-green foliage; compact erect habit; height 16–20cm; spread 26–30cm.
Introduced by Grovemount Alpine Nursery, Auchterader, Scotland, by 1972.
Name may allude to the flower colour.
‘Samtpfötchen’
Dusky rose-pink flowers, VII–VIII; grey-green foliage; height 21–25cm; spread 31–45cm.
Seedling from ‘Tina‘ raised by Lothar Denkewitz (Hamburg, Germany); introduced by L. Denkewitz in 1991. Like ‘Riko‘ this arose from an intended (but unsuccessful) cross between Erica cinerea ‘Pink Ice‘ and Erica tetralix ‘Tina‘.
The name refers to the velvety corolla.
‘Silver Bells’
Very pale shell-pink (H16) flowers, VI–X; grey-green foliage; erect; height 26–30cm; spread 31–45cm. A new-comer which promises to be a stayer, which is almost unique in its colour, an ashen-white delicately flushed with silvery rose.
Introduced by T. Smith & Sons, Daisy Hill Nursery (Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland) about 1929.
Name alludes to the flowers.
‘Stardome’
Very pale rose-pink flowers with dark tips, VII–IX; grey-green foliage; compact, erect habit; height 21–25cm; spread 31–45cm.
Commercially available from Barncroft Nurseries (Longsdon, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England) by 1987; introduced before 1985.
‘Stikker’
Lilac-pink flower buds held at right angles to the stem but they do not open, turning soft pink and pointing upwards, VI–IX; grey-green foliage; broad erect habit; height 21–25cm; spread 26–30cm. Collected north of Odoorn, Netherlands, and named after a peat-cutting tool.
‘Stoeke’
Flowers beautiful dark pink; foliage grey-green; height 25cm.
Found in 2004 by J. Baron as a seedling in his garden in Nieuw-Weerdinge, Netherlands.
“Stoeke is een aantal van 10 turven twee bij twee opgestapeld” ( … is a quantity of peat, ten
turves stacked two by two).
‘Swedish Yellow’
Pale rose-pink (H7) flowers, VII–IX; yellow-green foliage deepening to rich yellow with reddish tips in winter; height 10–15cm; spread 26–30cm. This plant performs best in exposed, harsh conditions.
‘Terschelling’
Lilac-pink (H11) flowers, VII–IX; grey-green foliage; upright; height 21–25cm; spread 31–45cm.
Wild-collected; found on Terschelling, Netherlands, by M. Zwijnenburg (Boskoop, Netherlands) in 1972; introduced by P. G. Zwijnenburg in 1975.
Named after an island just off the Dutch coast where it was found.
‘Tina’
Pale purple (H10) flowers, VIII–XI; grey foliage, particularly in winter; broad habit; height 16–20cm; spread 31–45cm.
Wild-collected; found on Kampina Heath between Boxtel and Tilburg, Netherlands, by M. Zwijnenburg (Boskoop, Netherlands) in 1965; introduced by P.G. Zwijnenburg in 1967.
Named after the finder’s daughter.
‘Trixie’
Pale pink flowers, VII–IX; grey-green foliage, leaves with yellow margins; height 16–20cm; spread 21–25cm.
Wild-collected; found by J. Baron at Oosterbos, Emmen, Netherlands, in 1979; named by Mrs Brita Johansson (Vargön, Sweden) in 1991, but introduced as early as 1986 by Herman Blum (Steenwijkerwold, Netherlands).
Named after Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, following a name competition run by the Swedish gardening society STA.