Erica verticillata - Cape Heath

Erica verticillata, formerly known as Erica manipuliflora, is commonly known as Cape heath or Whorl heath. It is a delightful shrub species that stands out with its particularly abundant and decorative summer flowering in pink. This vigorous bush is adorned with fine evergreen foliage that almost disappears in summer under clusters of long and beautiful tubular flowers in a lovely pink-lilac colour. Despite its South African origins, this plant can withstand moderate frosts, down to -7° C (19.4° F) at its lowest. Well adapted to coastal areas, it thrives in sandy and humus-rich, non-calcareous soil. In colder regions, it can be grown in pots to protect it during winter.

Erica verticillata belongs to the large Ericaceae family. Today endangered, this heath originally grew in sandy, acidic, and periodically moist plains of the Cape Peninsula, not far from rivers and marshes.

The Cape heath has a bushy habit, almost as tall as it is wide, and is highly branched. With a fairly slow growth, the shrub will reach about 90 cm to 1 m (35.4 in to 3.3 ft) in all directions, sometimes more. Throughout the year, its branches bear very small non-prickly needle-like leaves. This foliage is dense and a beautiful vibrant green. It produces an abundance of flowers between June and August, depending on the climate. The flowers, grouped in whorls or clusters, are produced at the ends of short branches. The tubular corolla, 2 cm (0.8 in) long, is pink in colour.

This whorled heath is an ideal shrub for landscaping coastal gardens that are spared from severe frosts. In light and non-calcareous soil, it can be planted with shorter heaths that flower in various colours: Erica mediterranea, E. carnea, or darleyensis offer blooms ranging from pure white to purple-violet, as well as all shades of pink and red in winter and spring. This plant will work wonders in rockeries or raised beds with Lithodora or a creeping ceanothus, for example (Ceanothus repens). When grown in pots, it should be planted in a well-drained substrate such as ericaceous soil, and kept slightly moist at all times.