Bog Myrtle & Peat

Calluna vulgaris is a name applied to dozens of varieties of ling. The plant grows in its natural form on the Chayne, and it can also be found in garden centres across the world, hybridised into extraordinary shapes and colours for the requirements of the horticultural industry. Seeing a selection of unusual looking ornamental heathers resting on the discount shelf of a garden centre in Dumfries, I decided that they might be worth a trial run on the hill. They are a strange and exotic selection of plants, varying widely in appearance, but because they are still described by their original shared latin name, there is the possibility that they will take off on the Chayne. At £1.50 each, I bought six.

Because they have been hybridised, they have been given all sorts of fantastic names like “silver knight”, “red pimpernel” and “bonfire brilliance”, and their delicate characteristics make some of them noticeably less likely to survive than others. If nothing else, planted in the centre of the newly constructed “heather laboratory”, they should teach me some interesting things about calluna vulgaris.

I have no whimsical notions of turning the moor into a suburban rock garden. If they grow, they’ll provide food for the grouse. If they don’t, they don’t.