Gardening Bytes

Posts Tagged ‘Heath & Heather Shrubs’

Deer will eat just about anything if they are hungry enough, so be prepared to see nibbles on your plants if food is scare. Here are some plants and shrubs that will help keep the deer from being interested in eating them. Low growing heathers are a good choice because they always look good with only a trim of old flowers off the stems, they tend to be strong growing shrubs. Kramer’s Rote is a beautiful green leaf heather with abundant pink and cream flowers that looks good all year long and grows about a foot tall and twice as wide. Catnip may float cat’s boats but deer do not like the aroma of this plant. Blue Wonder is a dwarf catnip that grows about a foot tall. Periwinkle (Vinca minor) is another choice for planting that deters deer and always looks good in the garden. Lilyturf (Liriope spicata) is an ornamental grass that grows only 1 inch high and produces a spikey flower when blooming. Low growing herbs such as Thyme are a good choice for gardens and less appealing to Deer. Wooley Thyme (creeping thyme) is a good choice for a thicker version of thyme with a wooley texture that forms a wide mat when growing, keeping weeds down and looking attractive beneath the base of other plants. Lambs Ear Silver Carpet is a perfect low growing ground cover, give it a lot of room to grow. This non-flowering Lambs Ear creates a thick carpet of silvery shaped leaves that crowds out weeds and makes a great easy care groundcover for hard to plant areas.

Perennial flowers are an excellent choice to help structure your garden and fill in spaces all year long. This list of perennial flowers are good choices for minimal care and hardiness of the plant. Give perennials plenty of time to become established in the garden. Choose plants suited to your area, local nurseries generally carry plants that adapt well to your hardiness zone.

Easy Care Perennials

Long lived, growing and thriving over five years
Division is only needed every four or five years
Good tolerance of hot summers
Good tolerance of cold winters
Non invasive
Little to no staking
Good resistance to disease and insects
Long lasting blooms
Attractive foliage all season
Able to grow in a wide range of conditions

Perennials

Astilbe
Avens (Geum)
Bergenia (Bergenia cordifolia)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’)
Blazing Star (Liatris)
Butterfly flower (Asclepias tuberosa)
Candytuft (Iberis)
Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea)
Coral bells (Heuchera)
Cranesbill (Geranium – try Johnson’s Blue Geranium)
Daylilies (Hemerocallis)
Fringed bleeding heart (Dicentra)
Pinks (Dianthus)
Gas plant (Dictamnus albus)
Globe thistle (Echinops)
Globe-flower (Trollius)
Heathers (Calluna vulgaris)
Hosta (Hostaceae or Funkiaceae)
Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla)
Leopard’s bane (Doronicum)
Monkshood (Aconitum)
Ornamental grasses
Peony (Paeonia – single-flowered varieties)
Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Sea thrift (Armeria)
Stonecrop (Sedum)
Siberian iris (Iris siberica)
Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum)
Speedwell (Veronica)
Yarrow (Achillea)

Azaleas are an ideal shrub to provide structure in your garden. These colorful, smaller shrubs have green leaves that are deciduous and beautiful flowers in spring. Azaleas require a shaded site, or a site with morning sun and afternoon shade. Azaleas prefer well-drained acid soil. You can add pine needles, oak leaves, or peat to increase the acidity of the soil surrounding your azaleas. Dig the planting hole for your azalea 6 to 8 inches wider than the roots or root ball of the plant, and dig deep enough to accommodate the root ball. Plant the azalea so the soil line on the plant is the same depth as it was in the shrub’s original pot. Apply a layer of mulch about 3 inches deep, and keep the plant moist, but not wet, until the azalea is well established.

Heaths and Heathers are sturdy sun loving, acid soil shrubs that add structure to gardens year round and, depending on the variety, provide beautiful blooms and vivid leaf color in different seasons all year long. After your heaths and heathers finish their bloom the flower buds brown and fade, which is the ideal time to prune back the shrubs. A neat trim below the flower blooms and cutting off bare stems above the main portion of the plant will help shape them for continued healthy growth. In the colder climate zones, prune heaths and heathers in the spring. If you do not trim back spent heath and heather flowers the shrubs may become spindly looking with sparse leaves as it grows. Trim back farther to regenerate the shrub when it is growing poorly. Do not trim back too far into the main woody portion of the heather shrub because it may not regenerate new growth.

Learn more about pruning heaths and heathers here: Heaths and Heathers Nursery

Heaths and heathers require a gentle touch when newly planted. As hardy as the plants are the roots are fragile and must receive regular weekly watering during their first year in the ground or the roots may suffer, causing the shrub to die. Once heaths and heathers are established in the ground for the year they are drought tolerant. I regularly water my heaths and heathers once a week even after they are in the ground for a year. Heaths and heathers need free draining soil since they do not like wet feet, make sure they are planted in well draining soil and they will provide beautiful flowers and leaf color for your garden.