Calluna vulgaris Rasta Girls Claire - Heather

Calluna vulgaris Rasta Girls® 'Claire' is a variety of summer heather characterised by a flexible and trailing habit and a flowering of unpollinated closed buds. In September and October, the heather is covered with a multitude of small white pearls on bright medium-green evergreen foliage. Since its flowers do not open, they withstand bad weather well and remain decorative for a long time. Instead of being erect, the stems are trailing, making it ideal for hanging baskets or potted plantings. In the garden, it behaves like a creeping plant, beautifully covering the stones of a rockery.

Calluna vulgaris is the only species of the genus Calluna belonging to the Ericaceae family. In its natural environment, it constitutes the dominant vegetation of barren heathlands in the cold regions of the UK and Northern Europe. 'Claire' is an evergreen shrub that forms a small bushy plant with a slightly tousled, spreading and trailing habit, reaching 40cm (16in) in height and width at maturity. Its growth rate is rather slow. Decorative all year round, it is adorned with a beautiful autumn flowering of long-lasting floral buds densely grouped on compact and flexible spikes. Its foliage is evergreen and scale-like, similar to that of a small conifer.

Calluna Rasta Girls® 'Claire' is a unique heather that thrives in any acidic, moist to dry soil, in full sun or partial shade. Stunning when planted en masse with other species and varieties, it pairs well with dwarf asters and small grasses, in a rockery, on a bank, or in an informal border, where its flexible stems weave between the plants. In an ericaceous bed, it settles at the foot of witch hazels, pieris, or Skimmia japonica. On a patio or balcony, it can be planted in hanging baskets and pots, gracefully cascading for autumnal floral compositions with small perennials and bulbs.

Calluna vulgaris can withstand moderate grazing. It represents an important source of food for sheep and deer when snow covers the vegetation. It is capable of regenerating after a fire. In the past, this plant was considered magical and used in white magic rituals; it was attributed protective powers, as in the Breton heaths, where it is said to ward off ghostly spirits. Calluna is also an ingredient of gruit, an aromatic composition used in brewing beer before the use of hops in the Middle Ages. Its flowering tops have been used in herbal medicine for a very long time, as they are reputed to "dissolve stones in the bladder".