Heathers 10: Yearbook of The Heather Society 2013

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MAIN CONTENTS

Frontispiece : Erica shannonii by Margaret de Villiers

GERALDINE GARDINER : Ericas of Hermanus: spectacular and sticky.
It is rated one of the most beautiful Ericas in the world. Called the Pride of Hermanus, Erica aristata is at its peak high on the Klein River mountains in September – just in time to grace the Spring Flower Show. …

LIZZIE JUDSON : Conservation on Horsell Common.
For most people if they have heard of Horsell Common at all it will be as the supposed landing place of the Martians in H. G. Wells’s War of the worlds. No they didn’t land in the U. S. A. – Orson Wells and Tom Cruise got it wrong! … in real life the Common isn’t a playground for UFO spotters, but an area of over 830 acres of lowland heath. …

Some memories of The Heather Society
… These were exciting days for all those involved, and the Society was helping to create even more interest in heather gardening. The trials at Harlow Carr made tremendous progress in sorting out the confusion over naming especially as at that time there was a flood of new cultivars being named and it made it possible to decide on what was truly different.

BLAIR FRY : New River Beach, New Brunswick, Canada.
… Our ocean side garden, flanked by the natural evergreens of the fog forests, continues to delight us daily. The amazing diversity and resiliency of the heather and heath, the ever changing colors with the seasons and blossom time and the intricate textures and personalities all provide a feast for the eyes. Six summers ago we were smitten with heathers and heaths … and remain so.

JOHN F. WRIGHT : Slime mould on heather in Dorset
Leocarpus fragilis on Erica, with photographs.

DAPHNE EVERETT : Heather nurseries: then and now.
… Looking back 50 years, the changes in heather-growing have been immense. When Sir John Charrington and a few other enthusiasts founded The Heather Society, the deliberate hybridizing of hardy heathers was very much in its infancy and tales of “dirty deeds” and DNA testing in the heather world would have been unbelievable. Although there are few back-garden heather nurseries any more, there are a goodly number of friendly, enthusiastic growers producing heathers to sell in their hundreds of thousands to nurseries and garden centres. The Heather Society’s membership may be declining but, if the number of heathers being produced annually is anything to go by, there is plenty of life in our favourite plant yet.

RICHARD CANOVAN : Winter death of Calluna vulgaris.
DONALD MACKAY : The Calluna died – the Erica lived. [modified reprint]
Responses to David Wilson‘s Arctic Outflow Wind: a cold killer. Heathers 9: 1–8 (2012).

JOHN GRIFFITHS : Blue Heathers revisited – some observations on the effect of iron sulphate on the colour of Erica cinerea flowers.
… blueing effect of iron salts on certain forms of Erica cinerea … continued.

The affiliated societies and their histories.

DAVID McCLINTOCK : Who was “Our Mr Richard Potter”? [modified reprint]
JEAN PRESTON : This Was ‘Our Mr Richard Potter”. [modified reprint]
E. CHARLES NELSON : Continuing the quest for Richard Potter (1844–1922).

The Heather Society 100 One hundred recommended heathers 2012.

W. DE BRUIN : In memoriam Jos Flecken.

Supplement XII (2012) to International register of heather names.

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Heathers 8 2011

DAPHNE EVERETT & JOHN GRIFFITHS: David J. Small (1939–2010).

R. CANOVAN & E. C. NELSON: Bibliography for David Small.

ELLA MAY T. WULFF: Heather cultivars associated with David Small and Denbeigh Heather Nurseries 1972–1999.

DAVID SMALL: Observations on rooting cuttings.

B. DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD: Les bruyères à l’Arboretum des Grandes Bruyères.

ARNOLD STOW: Heather companions: a gardener’s guide.

COLIN ROGERS: Short back and side, sir?

RICHARD CANOVAN: A new Erica manipuliflora seedling.

E. C. NELSON: Erica manipuliflora ‘Bert Jones’.

KARLA LORTZ: Growing South African heathers on Puget Sound, western USA.

E. G. H. OLIVER: Hunting for Ericas in Madagascar.

AARON SIPF: The trials and tribulations of growing heathers on a terrace in the Mediterranean.

Supplement XI (2011) to International register of heather names.