i planted a dozen or so last year and lost most of them

I planted mine last year, and I think it's a lost cause. I cut it back, but I don't have high hopes. It looked great in January, but by March was just twigs.

I planted 9 varieties of heaths/heathers last September, all purchased from Rock Spray Nursery. I mulched, and over the winter used Xmas tree boughs as additional protection, as I saw that's what the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was doing. This Spring, I found that only one, my Alba Mollis, fared poorly -- but at least part of it is still alive. I e-mailed Rock Spray for advice and got a very nice note back saying that as soon as it's reliably above 40 degrees at night, prune back to green wood and wait. So that's what I'm doing. The other 8 all look great, though. Furzey, Darley Dale and Anne Sparks were blooming when the snow melted and are still blooming now -- what great colors! We also have a fairly enclosed garden, so given all the other posts about a hard winter for heaths/heathers (plants that ought to be fairly hardy to begin with), it does sound like providing as much preventive protection as possible next winter is the best bet. I was concerned that the evergreen boughs wouldn't let the plants get enough light, but it looks like erring on the side of covering is the way to go. Very glad to see this forum added!

I planted a ton from Rock Spray last year here in Minnesota Z4. A mix of heath & heather, several varieties. I mulched with pine bark after planting and kept them watered well until the end of the season. I tried the pine bough protection for winter, but the spot I have them in is a windy slope (I know...this isn't where they should be planted), and ended up with my yard and several neighbor's yards full of pine boughs!

Somehow, even without much snow cover for the first half of the winter, most seem to have survived. I gave them a trim with the sheep shears as they recommend, though it appears I may have done it a bit prematurely, and am waiting to see what will happen. Several plants are blooming now (1 or 2 varieties), others have just a tiny bit of green with the remainder of the plant looking dead. My best guess is that I lost a few, but overall they did OK.

If anyone has a suggestion for keeping protection on plants in a windy area I would appreciate it. I have an open lake and wetland area to the west of my property that gives the wind about 1 mile of open land to pick up speed over before getting to my yard. Every spring I get to check my garden to see what I have lost to the cold. So far everything I have tried has blown away. I tried leaving all the plants in the garden (no fall clean up) to see if they would trap more snow and give more protection and even that didn't seem to help. We get winds so strong they shake the house and make the doors whistle!

Thanks for posting this subject, I will be interested to hear other replies.

I live in Central NY zone 5 . I lost most my heaths and heathers plants, we had very cold weather this year.. I was suprise to see my roses survive with out any winter protection... I did cover my heaths and heathers with lots of dry leaves I think I am goig to give up on thes plants,

Everything looked fine until Feb/March. Interestingly, any signs of life showing now are held by a couple of prostrate heaths, and a Silver Queen heather. The Silver Queen seems to have little "hairs" on its leaves - maybe that helped it survive the drying wind.

I was suprised my heather made it through this past winter. I have only one at this time and covered it with leaves and evergreen boughs. It recieved a bit of frost like damanage, but still has a lot of green. I'm hoping it will bloom this year. I live up on a small mountain, but, in a hollow. Snow was dumped upon it, up to five feet. This combination may be what helped it survive..?

I planted Erica Darleyensis and Erica Carnea last fall. We also had a long tough winter with ice and wind. All plants survived nicely. I mulched around all of the plants with shredded hardwood, but because they are winter heather, I did not cover them at all. Maybe this prevented rot from too much moisture? Plants came from Rock Spray.

Most of my Calluna Vulgaris and Erica Carnea died this winter, again! A few plants survived but just barely. I really don't understand what the problem is. They are supposed to be hardy enough to handle the temperatures that we have had in the northeast over the last couple of winters. I didn't protect mine but I didn't really see any reason to do so since I live in z6b. My weather station registered a couple of nights that would barely qualify for z5 in our unusally cold winter. I'm starting to think that these plants should be rated for z7 and above instead of z4 or z5 and above.

We got hit hard on Cape Cod, where our winters are usually milder than the rest of Mass. My 4 year old winter heaths are dead, every other one on my street also died. None were provided any protection other than mulch, as far as I know. I plan to purchase more tomorrow and hope we don't have a severe winter for many more years.

We have an entire hill planted with heath and heather - probably about 40 or more, planted according to instructions. Some are (or should I say WERE, 6 years old. They all look dead as of this date, excluding just a few. Because this hill is a major landscape feature, I have begun digging them out, since they really look awful. I'm going to replant them in another spot that can serve as a 'recovery room', cut them back, and see what happens.

Everywhere in our neighborhood we see dead heath and heather. The Dead Heather Society? (sorry).

My sympathies to everyone who has lost their prized plants. I still hope for some new growth.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Cape Cod

In NJ I also lost about 85% of plants established for about 5 years. Very frustrating, and surprising since these guys will take a much colder climate. All mine were Calluna vulgaris, various cultivars.

Must have been a bad winter for heather! I lost all of mine as well in WI. The difference in weather for mine was that in central WI we were having a very mild winter, no snow and then we got hit with a couple weeks of an arctic blast. Mine were all covered with pine boughs. The lack of snow did it (mine were 6 years old). I had decided to give up on heather, but forgot I had already ordered some to expand my heath garden. My new ones look so good - (we're having a great summer). I'm tempted to dig them up and bring them inside this fall. Has anyone done this?