According to an old Scottish legend, only heather, at the request of God, decided to grow on the bare slopes of the hills blown by the winds. For such decisiveness, he was rewarded with increased endurance, natural charm and unpretentiousness, and in the appendage with a dizzying aroma and qualities of a honey-bearing plant.
Heather: plant description
Ling is a shrub of the heather family. The plant has narrow scaled tetrahedral leaves. The flower can grow in height from 25 cm to one meter. At the end of each branch there are many small flowers of a goblet form, which are gathered in racemes.
The flower blooms lilac, white, cherry, crimson, pink flowers. Ugly shrub for almost the entire year, heather turns into a real handsome man in the middle of summer, drastically changing the appearance of the territory in which it grows.
Although the flowers quickly fade, but they persist in holding the twigs until late autumn, creating the impression that the heather shrub is constantly blooming.
Did you know? There are many varieties of heather that differ in leaf color..
Where heath grows, how to choose a place for successful growth
Heather grows almost throughout Europe. It can be found from the Far North to the Mediterranean Sea, in Morocco, on the Azores, and even in the harsh Siberia. According to one theory, the seeds of heather spread thanks to mattresses, which threw the sea onto the shore after another shipwreck (in past centuries, mattresses were stuffed with heather in Europe).
And although heather is “wild” and domesticated - these are two different plants, but their “habits” are identical, so planting and caring for them are also similar. For a comfortable growth in your area, give him a shaded place at noon, without excess moisture and drying as quickly as possible.
Did you know? The only place where you will not meet heather is Northwest America..
How to choose a seedling for planting
A healthy and strong sapling is a kind of guarantee that you will get a large healthy shrub. When choosing a seedling for planting heather, pay attention to its appearance. The plant must have "live" green shoots and not yet full buds.
The branches should be with absolutely smooth, even glossy bark. If you find dying scabs on the plant, then it is likely that it was reanimated. This plant is better not to acquire.
The soil in the pot should not be wet, a slightly moistened soil is allowed. Between the walls of the soil and the pot should not be cracks. The rate of “engraftment” and growth of a sapling in a new place depends on the age of the sapling. The younger and fresher it is, the faster the engraftment process will occur.
If you have a choice: buy a flower with an open rhizome or in a container - feel free to take the container. This is due to the fact that the rhizome will not experience stress during planting, and also the mycelium from the container that has developed in the soil, significantly increases the survival rate of the plant.
A small feature of shop heather is flattened and twisted roots. Before planting, you must carefully straighten them.
Planting heather
To plant heather, you do not need to make a lot of effort, and care and cultivation will not be a burden to you.
When to plant heather
The best time to plant a heather is the end of April, the beginning of May, the end of September or the beginning of October.
Important! It is better to plant a flower in spring, because during the summer period the bush will be able to root well.
In late summer, the air temperature slowly decreases, and this is a clear plus, because the flower can better prepare for winter frosts. This is especially important for foreign plants, which are not accustomed to the differences in our temperatures.
A flower that does not have time to adjust to the temperature changes risks quickly frosting, even considering the good frost resistance of the plant.
Preparing the soil for planting
The flower is unpretentious to the soil, it grows equally well on poor or well-fertilized soils. But if you want to see a beautiful lush bush in your home, you must add peat, sand and compost to the landing pit; and coniferous land will be a nice bonus for a flower.
If your area is clay soil - drain it. Just lay sand and broken bricks on the bottom of the pit, this will be quite enough.
Heath Landing Scheme
To plant heather, do not need to excel. The procedure is as follows:
- prepare the pit, given that the distance between cultures should be at least 40 cm;
- lower the plant 20 cm into the pit. Care must be taken that the root neck is not buried;
- Carefully cover the roots with soil and compact it well. Do not allow the emergence of airspace;
- After planting, water the flower well.
Heather Care Tips
How to choose and plant heather, you already know, now let's figure out how to care for him.
Does heather need watering and fertilizing
Heather does not need abundant and frequent feedings, but he is always happy with them. It responds very well to complex mineral fertilizers. For example, in the spring, after carefully loosening the soil under the flower, water the plant with fertilizer containing nitrogen and phosphorus.
When applying fertilizer, evenly distribute it strictly around the bush, do not get on the flowers and foliage, fertilizer can cause them burns. After that, sprinkle the fertilizer with earth and pour it abundantly.
As for irrigation, water plays a key role in the life of this domesticated flower. In order to fully develop, the soil under the heather should always be slightly moist.
Due to the short roots of the plant can not get the necessary amount of water from groundwater. In this regard, in a particularly dry season, the flower should be well watered - at least twice a week. The older the flower, the less water it consumes.
Important! On too hot days, it is recommended to spray the flower crown. The best time for this is early morning or late evening..
Heather trim
The shrub needs to be cut from time to time. By nature, the plant has a compact and dense crown, which, even without cutting, looks quite attractive. Most often, the flower is cut to the beginning of the growth phase of shoots and leaves.
It is best to take on the formation of the crown already in adult plants. When pruning, leave at least half of the branch. This pruning stimulates the growth of young shoots, so that the heather will become even more magnificent.
How to transplant heather
If you decide to transplant heather, then dig a bush along with the ground. As already mentioned, in the "native" land contains mushrooms, which extract nutrients from the soil. The flower does not like transplants, so it is recommended to choose a place for it once and for a long time.
Heather: how to propagate a plant
As you can see, caring for heather in the garden does not take much time. Likewise with breeding: you can multiply it yourself.
Seed method
Heather has rather small seeds, therefore it is recommended to sow them at home. For seeding use a container with edges. Pour the soil in a container with warm water, lay out the seeds and lightly press them down, sprinkle with soil on top. Cover the container with cling film to prevent seed and soil from drying out.
A month later, the seeds begin to sprout. At this time, you need to make seedlings in the fresh air, where it begins to grow abundantly. At a permanent place the flower can be planted only after a year and a half.
Reproduction by layering
For reproduction with layers it is enough to sprinkle the strongest and healthiest shoots with soil mixture and fix to the ground for rooting. After a year, the appendix can be cut off and transplanted to a permanent place.
Plant cuttings
If you do not want to wait that long, you can always just root the cutting. Cuttings harvested from the upper parts of the flower in early autumn. Strongly recommend not to start pruning when heather blooms.
Rooting heather is recommended in separate pots, where you need to pour peat-sand mixture. The cuttings germinate much faster than seed plants, and also bloom earlier. 
Heather: diseases and pests
Heather is a flower, for which no reverent care is needed. Nature has endowed him with vitality, as well as immunity to pests and diseases. But he sometimes has to suffer.
The plant sometimes affects fungal diseases, and if you do not treat them - the heather will die. If the soil is too wet, the flower may develop gray rot. If you find symptoms of gray mold (gray bloom on the branches), then immediately use the blue vitriol solution or Fundazol.
Sometimes flowers and shoots are sharply deformed.. The cause of this phenomenon can only be a viral disease. Treatment for viral and fungal diseases for heather has not yet been invented, so it only remains to remove the affected shrub to prevent the infection from spreading.
Now you can be sure that such a beautiful and unpretentious plant, like heather, can be grown easily, and it will be pleasing to the eye for years.
