Erica carnea Wintersonne - Winter Heath

Erica carnea 'Wintersonne', sometimes marketed under the name 'Winter Sun', is a variety of Winter Heather with a unique combination of colours, reddish-brown foliage and incandescent pink flowers that brighten up the garden from winter to spring. This hardy alpine heather tolerates limestone well, so it can be grown in many regions. With a beautiful spreading cushion, 'Wintersonne' is perfect for rockeries or covering the ground between shrubs, in well-drained soil.

Erica carnea 'Wintersonne' (syn. 'Winter Sun') was selected in Germany by Kurt Kramer for its unique coloured foliage. It is a beautiful descendant of the variety 'Myretoun Ruby'. Like all heathers, it belongs to the Ericaceae family. It is one of the many descendants of the Erica carnea native to limestone Alps. The 'Wintersonne' heather is a spreading undershrub with a rounded, branched, flat shape 15-20 cm (6-8in) high and 40 cm (16in) wide. It grows slowly and lives for about fifteen years. From January-February to May, it produces delicate small urn-shaped flowers that range from bright lilac pink to magenta red arranged in clusters 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4in) long, at the end of leafy stems. The nectar-rich flowers provide a valuable source of pollen and nectar for bumblebees, hoverflies, and other bees in early spring. The evergreen foliage consists of very narrow, upright, reddish-green leaves that take on bronze highlights in cold weather.

Erica carnea 'Wintersonne' makes an elegant ground cover at the base of deciduous or evergreen shrubs in light shade. It can also be used in rockeries, with alpine perennials or creeping dwarf conifers, for example. It can be grown in urban and rural areas. It is one of the best garden plants and can be planted as a specimen, or in a heather garden to create a mosaic of colours, in borders and pots.

While heathers are often associated with the damp Atlantic heathlands of Brittany, Ireland, or Scotland, some heathers thrive in dry and limestone Mediterranean climates. One of the richest areas in heather species is located in South Africa. In the Cape region, there is a plant formation on acidic soil, equivalent to the Mediterranean scrub vegetation, called Fynbos, which includes almost 625 of the 740 heather species known worldwide.