What it says
Heather speaks of chosen solitude and the beauty of what endures. It grows on acid, poor, free-draining soils — moor, bog, pine understory — where almost nothing else settles.
In Scotland it is associated with luck, particularly in its white form, which is rarer than the pink or mauve.
Two plants, one name
Erica, true heath, flowers from autumn to spring depending on species — the plant sold in garden centres in winter. Calluna, ling or true heather, flowers from late summer into autumn and forms the great purple moors.
They are not grown quite the same way, and that is behind most window-box failures.
What it needs
Acid soil, never chalky. Rainwater or low-mineral water — tap water in hard-water regions yellows it within weeks. Real drainage: it tolerates drought far better than standing water.
Dyed heather — blue, orange, fuchsia — has been sprayed. It is not dangerous, but the colour washes off with the first watering and the plant is often weakened by the treatment.
And the honey
Ling heather honey is one of the few thixotropic honeys: gelled at rest, it turns liquid when stirred. It cannot be extracted by ordinary centrifuge, which explains its price.
our piece on flower symbolism places heather among the flowers of shadow and withdrawal.