Erica darleyensis Eva Gold - Winter Heath

Erica x darleyensis Eva Gold is a lovely summer foliage mutation with the golden colour of the excellent winter heather 'Kramer's Rote'. This variety has a compact ball-shaped habit and evergreen foliage with changing colours, and it offers long and abundant magenta flowering during the shortest days of the year. By combining different varieties with staggered flowering, heathers create a patchwork of colour for 6 to 7 months, in the garden or in pots, even in slightly chalky soil for certain varieties.

Erica x darleyensis 'Eva Gold' is a horticultural creation from Pépinières Roué-Cadiou dating back to the year 2000. It is one of the many cultivars resulting from the cross-breeding between Erica carnea, native to mountainous areas of southern and central Europe, thriving on chalky soil, and Erica erigena, acid-loving and native to western Europe. This hybrid combines the larger development of the Scottish species with the more abundant flowering of alpine heather. An evergreen undershrub with a round and dense habit, it reaches approximately 40-50 cm (15.7-19.7 in) in all directions. Its growth is quite slow. Its lifespan is around 10 to 15 years. 'Eva Gold' flowers for a long time, from December to March. The dark purple flower buds open into small urns of magenta-pink with brown stamens. These flowers, 3 to 5 mm (0.1 to 0.2 in) in length, are in long clusters of 3 to 10 cm (1.2 to 3.9 in), scattered along the branches, amidst thin and linear foliage. It is foliage that changes colour throughout the year. Starting with light green in early spring it turns golden yellow in summer and becomes intense green in winter.

Very hardy and undemanding about the nature of the soil, this heather is ideal for rock gardens and winter beds, in the company of other varieties such as 'Winter Belles', 'White Perfection', 'J.H Brummage' and 'Katia'. The Darley heather is also an excellent ground cover, whether alone or associated with creeping dwarf conifers (Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star', Juniperus horizontalis 'Blue Chip', J.repanda...), or ground cover plants such as 'Antennaria dioica 'Rubra'', 'Armeria maritima 'Rubrifolia', or Campanula portenschlagiana for example. It is also a nectar-rich plant, its flowers contain nutritious substances collected by bees who transform them into honey.