Calluna vulgaris 'Firefly', Firefly Heather

'Firefly' is a very pretty name, but this heather is really more flamboyant — a flaming torch of brick-red-orange upright spiking foliage throughout the winter, and bright, light green foliage in spring. It's suitable for the most modern garden or the most "traditional." Use it as a colorful punctuation, a geometric planting, or a dramatic drift. The spiky racemes are purple-pink in August and September, so all-in-all you get three spike colors from foliage and flower! This is not a "roundy-moundy," but a distinct and exciting form. For heathers to remain looking good they need to be sheared to the bottom of the flowering spike once a year when the flowers fade. Also make sure they reside in well-draining soil if at all possible, hold back on fertilizer, and don't permit them to completely dry out. That's the trick.

Evergreen; mature size: 18 in tall and wide.

Minimum temperature: -20° F