Snow heather - Erica carnea Golden Starlet

Erica carnea 'Golden Starlet', a variety of heather or alpine heather, forms a compact clump producing a profusion of small white flowers, on golden evergreen foliage in summer, turning acid green in winter. The bright colour of its foliage and its long flowering period brighten up the garden during the short winter days until spring. Particularly hardy, it tolerates slightly limestone soils and appreciates sunny exposures. It is ideal for ground cover between shrubs or in rockeries.

Erica carnea 'Golden Starlet' belongs to the family of ericaceae. It comes from Erica carnea, native to the mountains of southern and central Europe. It forms a low-spreading undershrub, strongly branched, 25 cm (9.8 in) tall and 50 cm (19.7 in) wide. Its growth is quite slow, with a lifespan of about fifteen years. From December to April, it produces delicate small white urn-shaped flowers, with prominent purple stamens. The bells are arranged in 5 to 10 cm (3.9 in) long clusters at the end of the leafy stems. The nectar-rich flowers provide a valuable source of pollen and nectar for bees in early spring. The evergreen foliage is composed of small narrow and erect leaves, initially yellowish green in spring, lightening to lemon yellow in summer, and then turning lime green in autumn and winter.

Erica carnea 'Golden Starlet' works well as ground cover at the foot of deciduous or evergreen shrubs, where it enjoys the light shade provided. It can also be used in rockeries, alongside alpine plants. It can be cultivated both in urban and rural areas. Counted among the best garden plants, you can place it in a heather garden, in beds, and in pots.

Certain heathers, especially the genus Erica, are often associated with the humid Atlantic heathlands of Brittany, Ireland, or Scotland, but there are also heathers that thrive in dry climates and on calcareous soils in Mediterranean regions. But one of the richest areas in heathers is located in South Africa. In the Cape region, there is a vegetation formation on acid soil called Fynbos, which includes nearly 625 species of heathers out of the 740 that exist in the world.