Heath & heather at Kingsbrae Garden

Just after posting about wild heather in Bay of Fundy marshes a few days ago, I had a note from a friend who works at Kingsbrae Garden in St Andrews, New Brunswick:

Our Heath & Heather Garden is one of my favourites at Kingsbrae Garden. I find it a very restful garden, as the colours are gentle, the shapes of all the plants and beds, curvy and soft, with the path meandering through. No straight lines here! It's a great spot for a little meditative break. The heathers bloom at different times of the year, so there's always colour, set against the various greens, from chartreuse through blue-greens, of evergreens and cedar hedge.

Some winters the heathers have a difficult time; they do like a protective layer of mulch -- whether of snow or vegetative matter -- so they are not continually thawing and refreezing. That's true of most plants, but many of the heathers are borderline for our zone. Having the high hedge and wall on one side and our 8 acres of virgin Acadian forest on the other side does buffer them from the harshest winds. Of course, we can't always count on thick snow cover throughout the coldest months, but most years, they manage just fine.

By the way, the scientific name for heather is Calluna vulgaris and for heath, Erica. The many heathers we have in our Heath & Heather garden are compiled in a photo series on Flickr, in case any of your blog readers are interested in knowing more. ~ Maureen
I'd actually happened to have this photo of Kingsbrae's Heath & Heather Garden in my photo gallery - from my visit a couple weeks ago.