calluna plant care indoor A Long-Lasting Touch of White for Fall | 'Alicia' Heather | Calluna vulgaris 'Alicia'

The astonishing 'Alicia' Heather reinvents fall blooming with a touch of luminous magic. As part of the famous Garden Girls® series, its countless, immaculate pure white flower buds never fully open. This unique phenomenon allows them to retain their brilliant colour for months, from late summer until the first snows, without being affected by rain or frost. It's a long-lasting, worry-free touch of light for your autumn arrangements, containers, and flowerbeds.

Characteristics

• Foliage: Evergreen foliage, composed of tiny, scale-like leaves in a vibrant green, which remains attractive all year and offers a fine texture.
• Flowering: Its main feature is being a "bud-bloomer." Long spikes become covered in pure white flower buds that remain closed, guaranteeing an impeccable and exceptionally long-lasting colour from August to November, and often well beyond.
• Light: Requires full sun for dense growth and maximum colour.
• Habit: Adopts an upright, compact, and bushy habit, forming a neat, dense little shrub.
• Growth: Slow-growing, it reaches a mature size of 30 to 50 cm (12-20 in) in height and width.
• Soil: Essential: requires acidic (pH 4.5-5.5), poor, sandy, and above all, perfectly drained soil. It absolutely cannot tolerate heavy, clay, or alkaline soils.
• Temperature: Hardy in Zone 5. Its survival in the ground in many parts of Canada is highly dependent on adequate winter protection, such as a consistent snow cover or a mulch of conifer boughs.
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: Very resistant to White-tailed deer. The closed flower buds are highly resistant to bad weather.

Use

• Types of Use: Ideal for fall containers, window boxes, rock gardens, acidic borders, or in groups for a massing effect. Due to its borderline hardiness, it is often used as a seasonal annual for its prolonged fall colour.
• Decorative Advantages: Provides a fine texture and a bright, long-lasting white colour at a time of year when blooms are scarce. Perfect in combination with grasses, asters, pansies, and ornamental cabbage.

Care

• Watering: Water regularly to maintain consistent moisture, but without ever waterlogging the soil. Good drainage is crucial.
• Fertilization: Requires very little fertilization. If necessary, use a low-dose fertilizer for acid-loving plants in the spring.
• Pruning: Prune lightly in early spring, just below the previous year's flower spikes, to maintain a compact shape. Avoid cutting into old wood (the part without foliage).
• Planting: Incorporate soil for acid-loving plants (heather/rhododendron soil) or peat moss when planting to ensure an adequate pH.
• Winter Protection: For in-ground planting, protect the shrub from drying winter winds with a mulch of conifer boughs or another breathable cover. A good snow cover is its best protection.