Heather and heath come in a lot of differant sizes and colors. It is very beautiful to have a border with the taller ones in the back and the lower growing ones in the front. Some are spreaders and some are compact. There are so many. A couple of my favorites are:
White Lawn-a ground cover that is barely 2 inches high and spreads, its a slow grower but very compact and lovely flowers
Alexandra-a very bright red/purple color. This is a "bud bloomer" one of the newer heathers that I love. Usually the flowers bud, open, get pollinated and then the flower turns brown. The bud bloomers have buds, but the flower never opens so you never have the dried flowers on the plant and the color lasts a very long time. These never seed so need to be grown by cuttings.
I have found heathers to be very easy. But they do like acid soil and need to have good drainage. They like sandy soil. The only time I have had them die is when they dry out, if they dry out they look fine, then they are totally dead. No saving them. For the first year make sure they get ample water and they should be fine. I have a drip system on mine and they are doing great. They also seem to grow very slowly the first year and the tendancy is to plant them too closely. Then they take off and are over crowded. I would say you need at least 2-3 feet between each plant, it will look sparse for the first year but will fill in nicely.

If you mix the summer and winter bloomers then you will always have some in bloom, you can also get some with the red foliage and that adds a lot of color as well.
Hope this helps.

I am also fairly new to growing heather, but have already found it to be a delight. I purchased my new plants from heathsandheathers.com on the west coast. There's also Rock Spray in Mass on the east which is where I'm located, but the quality of plants from Heaths and Heathers had me purchasing from them. The plants arrived in excellent condition,especially for having traveled cross-country. The calluna vulgaris variety is the hardiest and heathsandheathers has an excellent selection and many of which provide beautiful winter color.
I have very nutrient-rich soil and so far my new heathers have needed little care other than what nature provides and they seem to be healthy and taking root.

Well..I came here loooking for advice and your suggestions certainly helped me! I have bought several ericas from Lowes in the past and they died immediatly after transplanting. Now I think I must have let them dry out too much from what you said, rebeccanne.

I have 'always' wanted to grow heaths and heathers but had given up. You have given me hope again:-)

The front of my house faces East, full sun. Would that be a good spot for them? How about the backyard, facing West with only morning sun? My soil is very acid. Our veggie gardens test out at pH 5.5, and we have to add lime every year to them. We get a lot of wind from the west and north in winter. Do they need protection from the wind?
Thanks!
VG