Cross-leaved heath

Cross-leaved heath: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Low, branching dwarf shrub of 20–50 cm.

Leaf

Needle-like leaves of 3–5 mm in whorls of four, grey-green with glandular hairs.

Stems

Thin, hairy stems.

Flower

Pink, egg-shaped bells in small clusters at the shoot tips, June–September.

Fruit

Small capsules.

Difference from heather

Heather has scale-like leaves in four rows and flowers in long spikes, and grows on dry heath.

Flowering: June–September · Pruning: March–April

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Heather Calluna vulgaris: scale-like leaves in four rows and flowers in long spikes; dry heath. Difference from heather

Why grow it?

• Pink bells from June to September, long after the spring flowers.
• Nectar for bees and bumblebees, and a food plant for heathland butterflies and moths.
• A native plant of wet heath that has become rare: a piece of real nature in your garden.
• Stays low and compact, ideal for the edge of a pond or a wet corner.

Cross-leaved heath: where does it grow best?

• Full sun; in shade it becomes straggly and flowers poorly.
• Acid, nutrient-poor soil that always stays moist to wet, such as peaty sand.
• It cannot tolerate lime: no chalky soil, and no hard tap water.
• Allow for 20–50 cm tall and about 50 cm wide; plant it in small groups.

Light

Full sun

Legal basis

Acid soil

Moisture

Moist to wet

Size

0.4 m tall, 0.5 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Heather: For the drier, higher edge of the heather garden, with cross-leaved heath in the wet, lower part.
• Bog-myrtle: A fragrant native shrub of the same wet, acid heath.
• Creeping willow: A low native willow that also grows on wet heath, with early catkins for the bees.
• Cotton-grass: White, fluffy seed heads in late spring, on the same wet, acid soil.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Likes the acid soil near: scots pine, black pine, weymouth pine, english oak, sessile oak, giant redwood
• Like acid soil, just like this plant: heather, rhododendron, japanese skimmia, raspberry, highbush blueberry, witch hazel, broom, gorse

Best kept away from

• Walnut releases juglone, to which this plant is sensitive: walnut
• Do not plant under the dense crown of these trees: norway spruce, european silver fir, nordmann fir, douglas fir, yew, horse chestnut, norway maple, sycamore

Cross-leaved heath: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant in April or in September–October, using pot-grown plants from a nursery; never dig up plants from the wild.
2. On ordinary garden soil, create a wet, acid spot with acid leaf compost, sand and pine needles. Don’t use peat: digging peat destroys the very places where cross-leaved heath grows.
3. Plant 30–40 cm apart, at the same depth as in the pot.
4. After planting, water generously with rainwater and keep the soil moist at all times afterwards.

Care

Watering

Keep the soil moist at all times with rainwater; it does not cope well with drying out.

Feeding

Don’t: it grows on poor soil, and fertiliser only helps grasses and weeds.

Weeding

Pull out grasses and young trees (birch, pine) in good time; on the heath, grazing and management take care of this.

Mulching

A thin layer of pine needles keeps the soil acid and moist.

Tip: Make a small bog bed: dig a hole 30–40 cm deep, line it with pond liner with a few holes in the bottom, fill it with sand and acid leaf compost, and water with rainwater. That way cross-leaved heath will thrive in an ordinary garden too.

Cross-leaved heath: when to prune it?

Pruning months: March–April.

When: In March–April.

How:

• In the garden, clip off the faded tips, just below the old flower clusters, to keep the plant compact.
• Don’t cut into the bare, woody part: it regrows poorly from there.
• On the heath, grazing keeps it young.

Caution: Don’t prune in autumn: the old flower clusters protect the plant in winter.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Cuttings

In summer, take cuttings of 3–5 cm from non-flowering shoots and root them in a moist mix of sand and ericaceous compost.

Layering

Peg a stem down to the ground and cover it with acid soil; after a year you can cut it free.

Cross-leaved heath: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• The withered flower clusters stay on the plant in winter: leave them until the spring trim.

Diseases and pests

• Lime: Yellow, sickly plants caused by chalky soil or tap water. Water only with rainwater and use acid leaf compost.
• Drying out: Brown, dried-out plants after a dry summer. Cross-leaved heath needs wet feet: choose a wet spot or water with rainwater.
• Grasses taking over: Grasses such as purple moor-grass and birch seedlings crowd out the heath. Pull them out while they are young.
• Ageing: A plant that is never trimmed becomes woody and falls open. Clip off the faded tips every spring.

Through the year

• March: Pruning: clip off faded tips.
• April: Finish pruning; planting.
• May: Weed out grasses and young trees.
• June: Flowering begins: pink bells for the bees.
• July: Full flower; water with rainwater in dry spells; take cuttings.
• August: Flowering; keep the soil moist.
• September: Last flowers; planting is possible.
• October: Planting.

What can you use it for?

For wildlife

Typical of wet heath and bog; nectar for bees and a food plant for heathland butterflies and moths.

Garden and landscape

For a wet, acid spot in a heather garden or by a pond.

Good for wildlife

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Caterpillars

Host plant: caterpillars of butterflies or moths eat the leaves.

Bumblebees

Nectar and pollen for bumblebees, also from deep flowers and early in spring.

Did you know?

• Grows on wet, acid heathland and in raised bogs. In gardens you are more likely to see winter heath (Erica carnea).
• In Europe, wet heath with cross-leaved heath is a protected habitat within the Natura 2000 network.
• The caterpillars of the silver-studded blue feed on, among other plants, cross-leaved heath. They are tended by ants, which drink their sugary secretions and protect them.
• On poor, acid soils the heath gets help from fungi: its roots live in partnership with ericoid mycorrhizal fungi, which unlock nutrients for the plant.