Description:

A superb groundcover for poor, acid soils, also great for massing in the garden; greenish-yellow foliage turns rich yellow with red tips in winter; pale rose-pink flowers in late summer; requires organic highly acidic soil, full sun and even moisture

Ornamental Features

Swedish Yellow Cross-Leaved Heath is covered in stunning spikes of rose bell-shaped flowers with pink overtones rising above the foliage from late summer to early fall. It has attractive yellow-variegated grayish green foliage which emerges chartreuse in spring. The tiny needles are highly ornamental and turn outstanding shades of yellow and in the fall, which persists throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Swedish Yellow Cross-Leaved 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.

Swedish Yellow Cross-Leaved Heath is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens

Planting & Growing

Swedish Yellow Cross-Leaved 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.