Erica vagans 'Diana Hornibrook'

Erica vagans 'Diana Hornibrook' is a variety of wandering heather with a beautiful salmon pink summer flowering. Resembling a carpet, it stands out with its dense and compact vegetation, spreading growth, and dark green foliage all year round. Between July and October, the plant is covered in numerous dark pink spikes, adding brilliance to its flowering. When planted in mass, it will enhance a rockery or the edge of an acidophilous plant bed. An acidic, moderately moist and well-drained soil is optimal for its development. Amateur gardeners will appreciate the simplicity of maintaining this generous and robust heather.

Erica vagans belongs to the Ericaceae family, like all heathers, as well as strawberry trees, heaths, azaleas, and blueberries. This heather, with its late summer flowering, is also known as wandering heather or Cornish heather or even traveling heather. It can be found in Western Europe from Portugal to England. In its natural habitat, Erica vagans thrives in heathland areas (acidic, poor, and siliceous soils) and mountain slopes. The 'Diana Hornibrook' cultivar was discovered by Murray Hornibrook and introduced to Great Britain in 1946, named after his daughter. With a healthy and robust vegetation, it forms a small evergreen shrub with a spreading habit, reaching about 0.20m (1ft) to 0.25m (1ft) in height and 0.30m (1ft) to 0.45m (1ft) in spread at maturity. It grows slowly and has a lifespan of about 12 to 15 years. On thin and twisted branches, small needles, 7 to 10mm (0in) long, grow in whorls of 4 or 5, with a furrow underneath. The spring shoots are a lovely tender green, and the foliage remains dark green throughout the year. This cultivar usually blooms between July and October depending on the climate, for several weeks. Its small dark pink bell-shaped flowers, measuring 5 to 6mm (0.25in) in length, are arranged in spikes 5 to 10cm (2 to 4in) long and are scattered along the branches. The flower has a corolla shaped like a urn or bell with 4 small lobes and 8 free stamens. The purple anthers protrude, giving the flowers an elegant appearance. They are highly attractive to bees.

The wandering heather 'Diana Hornibrook' has all the qualities one would expect from a heather: Long and remarkable flowering combined with evergreen foliage. Its bushy, dense, and compact vegetation allows for use in ground cover beds, borders of shrub beds, terracing or rockeries, and dressing around the base of trees and large shrubs. From its mountain origins, it retains good adaptability to poor soils subjected to harsh climatic conditions (cold, wind, heatwaves, etc.). Its ability to withstand salt-laden winds also makes it suitable for coastal gardens. It prefers full sun but tolerates partial shade very well.

Hardy to -20°C (-4°F), wandering heather 'Diana Hornibrook' is a sturdy and robust small shrub. It prefers an acidic to neutral soil, but it may adapt to slightly alkaline soil. In any case, a well-drained soil without stagnant moisture is necessary. It does not tolerate prolonged periods of drought well and appreciates moist soils. Mulching is a solution to maintain relative soil moisture. Almost maintenance-free, this heather only requires light pruning after flowering, in October-November. It can easily be planted alongside other heathers whose flowering will take over, with similar growth and development, such as Erica x darleyensis, Erica carnea, or Calluna vulgaris. Its long late summer flowering adds bright colours to shaded areas. It brings whimsy and cheerfulness to low-growing grass beds such as sedges, Ophiopogon, Molinia, Uncinia, Hakonechloa, Pennisetum, etc. It can also be mixed in a low and shaded bed with Andromedas, heaths, Pachysandra, or Lithodora fruticosa. In acidic soil, heathers form beautiful carpets at the base of larger shrubs, dressing their bases: mountain laurel, rhododendrons, camellias, deciduous azaleas, Andromedas, etc. Cultivated in pots or containers, it enriches balconies, terraces, or patios with its intense flowering.