Growing Heather Easily
1. Install your heather plants in the spring in well-drained, acidic soil. Make sure that the water won’t just be sitting around the plants and that the ground dirt isn’t too hard.
2. Makes sure that the plants will receive full to partial sun when growing. Heather doesn’t do well and may die in shaded areas in your yard or garden. Heather can take small amounts of shade, but can’t take it all day.
3. Plant in areas of the garden where you might want to see the butterflies that heather naturally attracts. Heather also attracts other pollinators, such as honey bees and even some types of birds.
4. Mulch with an inch of two if chopped conifer bark or pine needles; this will help acidify the soil and protect the plants from chilly weather. You can even use your lawn clippings around for mulch as well. The best way to protect heather in the chilly months is with thick mulch though.
5. Prune back to below the flower line when the weather has settled in the spring, so that the subsequent blooms will be just as beautiful as the spring blooms. Pruning is something we all dread, but it is necessary to achieve great blooms when the spring rolls around.
6. Keep in mind that the warmer, humid climates such as that in the Southeast you may be able to find heather only as potted gift plants.
7. Transplant only when your heather plants as small to average size for lasting results. Once the heather is in the ground, avoid transplanting it somewhere else in your yard or garden. It is best to make sure when you first plant it, it stays there.
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