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Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
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'Erica × darleyensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
This heath appeared about 1890 in the heath nursery of Messrs James Smith & Son, at Darley Dale, in Derbyshire, and showed characters intermediate between those of E. herbacea and E. erigena. They named it “E. mediterranea hybrida”, but as it shows as much, or more, affinity with E. carnea, I have adopted another name for it. The name “hybrida” has been given to it, but that is already in use for a S. African heath. In the characters of its leaves, young wood, and flowers it is identical with those two species, which themselves scarcely differ; but planted in groups it eventually forms dense masses 2 ft high – at least twice as high as herbacea, yet never showing any disposition to grow erect and form a single stem like erigena. Quite young plants are scarcely distinguishable from E. herbacea, but soon show they are not the same by their stronger growth. A valuable character of E. × darleyensis is its habit of commencing to flower as early as November and continuing until May. It ought to be in every garden.
The heath described above is the type (‘
The clones mentioned are still perhaps the best. There is also ‘Furzey’ with deep rosy pink flowers borne over a long period from December onwards; and ‘Jack H. Brummage’, of dense habit, its foliage pale yellow in summer, deepening in winter.