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Heaths (genus Erica) and heathers (genus Calluna) are members of the family Ericaceae, which generally need acid soil. Both prefer well-drained, sandy, humus-rich soil and a sunny site. If your soil doesn't fit this description, it’s worth amending it with sand (quartz play sand is available at many hardware stores) and peat moss or other acidic compost. (I suggest amending with 50 percent of each).

Erica carnea and Erica x darleyensis (an Erica carnea hybrid) are lime-tolerant and hardy to Zone 4, so these are probably the best choices for those of us with alkaline soil. Heaths and heathers are best unfertilized or fed sparingly, as they are used to growing in relatively nutrient-poor soils.

If you're unwilling to live with the limitations of the soil conditions in your garden, like me, you could try my experiment. It's working so far, but one growing season is too short to pronounce the experiment a resounding success. Since my pH 7.5 soil is unsuitable for some of the small ericaceous shrubs I'm growing, I've created soil from sand, peat moss, and potting soil and planted the shrubs in plastic pots with drainage holes.

After planting, I sunk the pots up to rim in the garden, surrounded the pots with garden soil and mulched the pots. Good mulches are pine bark and pine needles. A well-drained planting medium is important as the plastic pot will inhibit air exchange. Good drainage is also essential at the planting site to avoid lime rich water backing up into the pots. So far this has been successful with a rhododendron and an andromeda. This year I'm going to try this with a heather.

John Gilrein