‘Ashlea Gold’

Pale pink flowers, VII-X; deep gold foliage throughout the year; compact; height 31-45cm; spread 46-60cm. Less floriferous than ‘Valerie Griffiths‘ but has a much stronger foliage colour.

Seedling selected from progeny of Erica manipuliflora ‘Aldeburgh’ deliberately crossed with Erica vagans ‘Valerie Proudley’; raised by Dr John Griffiths (Garforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England) in 1983.

Named from Ashlea Close, the Griffiths’ address, and gold referring to the foliage colour.

‘Elegant Spike’

Pale rose-pink flowers, VII-X, in long spikes; mid-green foliage; vigorous, upright; height 46-60cm; spread 61-75cm.

Seedling; raised before 1964 at Boskoop, Netherlands, by P. G. Zwijnenburg from seed of E. manipuliflora received from an un-named botanical garden; introduced by P. G. Zwijnenburg in 1975.

Name alludes to the habit.

‘Heaven Scent’

Lilac-pink (H11), scented flowers, VII-XII, in long sprays; dark greyish green foliage; vigorous, upright; height 75-100cm; spread 46-60cm.

Introduced by Maxwell & Beale (Corfe Mullen, Dorset, England) in 1951, as E. verticillata; originally sent to the nursery from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on 16 March 1949. Identified subsequently as a hybrid, after it was given the cultivar name by Mrs C. Turpin (West Clandon, Surrey) in 1990.

Synonyms include E. anthura ‘Heaven Scent’; ‘Major Turpin’s Form’; ‘Maxwell’s Form’.

Name is a pun on the scent of the plant, suggested by Cherry Turpin.

‘Jacqueline’

Cerise (H6) flowers, VII-XII, scented, in long sprays; dark greyish green foliage; vigorous, upright; height 75-100cm; spread 46-60cm habit.

A sport from ‘Heaven Scent‘, first sold un-named in 1998 to a few landscape gardeners by C. Kampa (Chobham, Surrey), before coming to the notice of John Hewitt, Summerfield Nursery (Frensham, Surrey, England).

Named after John Hewitt’s daughter.