Erica x darleyensis ‘Kramer’s Rote’ (Winter Heath)

Loved for its outstanding upright, bushy habit, evergreen foliage, and glimmering flowers, award-winning Erica x darleyensis ‘Kramer’s Rote’ or ‘Kramer’s Red’ (Winter Heath) is a compact, vigorous shrub with clouds of magenta flowers from mid-winter to mid-spring (Jan-Apr), covering the dark bronze-green foliage. Great at providing winter color while requiring little care, it is perfect at smothering weeds! This cultivar is a cross between Erica carnea ‘Myretoun Ruby’ and Erica erigena ‘Brightness’.

• Grows up to 18 in. tall (45 cm) and 24 in. across (60 cm).
• Recipient of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society for its outstanding qualities
• Performs best in full sun in sandy, acidic, medium moisture, well-drained soils. Part shade is welcomed in hot summer areas. Newly planted Heath can dry out quickly once planted, so it is important to water regularly and thoroughly when the plant is young.
• Easy to grow, this plant is a welcomed addition to rock gardens, groundcover, slopes, coastal gardens, cottage gardens, or containers. Plant in groups for the best visual impact.
• Produces nectar that attracts bees on mild winter days, but is ignored by deer!
• Virtually disease and pest free, but watch for powdery mildew, root rot, rust, and wilt.
• Plants may be sheared lightly after flowers fade, but not any later, as flower buds are formed during the summer. Annual light shearing promotes a bushier plant.
• Erica x darleyensis includes many hybrids of Erica carnea and Erica erigena. A taller growing shrub than Erica carnea, generally between 12-24 in. tall (30-60 cm), and bushier, it is useful in adding winter color at greater heights. It is loved for its early bloom and evergreen presence and forms bristling splashes of pink, white, purple, or red blooms in the landscape which are at their best with dwarf evergreens, conifers, and mixed plantings of heathers. Most varieties display needle-like mid-green foliage with pink, cream, or red, young growth in late spring, and a bronzy foliage in the winter. Buds form in late summer or early fall, and some cultivars begin blooming as early as late September, often lasting until April.