Pirbright Rose Heath
Erica carnea 'Pirbright Rose'
Height: 6 inches
Spread: 12 inches
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: 6a
Other Names: Spring Heath, Snow Heath, Winter Heath
Description:
An excellent groundcover with lovely rose-pink tubular flowers in early spring over gray-green needle-like foliage; ideal for poor soils, also great for massing in the garden; requires organic highly acidic soil, full sun and absolutely no standing water
Ornamental Features
Pirbright Rose Heath is covered in stunning spikes of rose bell-shaped flowers with pink overtones rising above the foliage from late winter to mid spring. It has bluish-green foliage with hints of gray. The tiny needles remain bluish-green throughout the winter.
Landscape Attributes
Pirbright Rose Heath is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a mounded form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which should be used to full effect.
This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting bees to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Pirbright Rose Heath is recommended for the following landscape applications;
- Mass Planting
- General Garden Use
- Groundcover
- Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
Planting & Growing
Pirbright Rose Heath will grow to be only 6 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 12 inches. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years.
This shrub should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is very fussy about its soil conditions and must have rich, acidic soils to ensure success, and is subject to chlorosis (yellowing) of the foliage in alkaline soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider covering it with a thick layer of mulch in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.
