Calluna vulgaris Winter Chocolate - Heather

Calluna vulgaris 'Winter Chocolate', also known as Common Heather or Heather, is a truly amazing variety that attracts attention both for its flowering and its ever-changing evergreen foliage. From August to October, it produces abundant purple to violet flower spikes, which contrast remarkably with its golden yellow to bronze foliage. In winter, it turns reddish-brown. This cultivar is colourful and decorative all year round. It structures and brightens up somewhat dreary flower beds in winter. Extremely hardy, it is a plant for harsh climates and acidic soils, with a compact growth habit, designed to withstand the wind.

Calluna vulgaris, the only species in the Calluna genus belonging to the Ericaceae family, is the dominant vegetation in barren heathlands in the cold regions of the United Kingdom and Northern Europe. 'Winter Chocolate' is one of its many cultivars. This evergreen shrub forms small, bushy, slightly unkempt bushes, reaching a height of 0.4 m (1.3 ft) and a width of 0.5 m (1.6 ft). It has a relatively slow growth rate. Decorative all year round, it offers purple buds that turn into pale lavender flowers in summer, grouped in erect, compact yet flexible spikes. The scaly foliage starts off orange tinged with salmon-red in spring, becoming chartreuse green to orange-yellow in summer, igniting into bronze in autumn and finishing the year with a beautiful chocolate brown-red. It is a honey plant, used in beekeeping due to the high sugar content of its nectar. Heather honey is characterised by its gelatinous texture and dark colour.

Summer heather 'Winter Chocolate' is an original and surprising cultivar that will thrive in acidic soil, in low-maintenance gardens and wild areas, bringing colour throughout the year. It can be planted in groups with other varieties and cultivars (there are countless ones). To achieve a long winter flowering, one can imitate nature by combining common heather and ash-coloured heather, changing the landscape colours during their blooming period. It will brighten up rockeries and borders along paths. It adapts very well to pot cultivation and will create beautiful seasonal compositions in flower boxes. Planted in acidic soil flower beds, it will cover the base of rhododendrons or witch hazels. You can create charming, slightly wild scenes by planting 'Winter Chocolate' alongside grasses, ferns, and dwarf conifers at the base of white birch trees.

Calluna vulgaris can withstand moderate grazing. It is an important source of food for sheep and deer when the vegetation is covered in snow. It is capable of regenerating after a fire. In the past, this plant was considered magical and used in white magic rituals; it was believed to have protective powers, such as in the Breton heathlands, where it is said to ward off ghostly spirits. Heather is also an ingredient in gruit, an aromatic composition used in beer brewing before the use of hops in the Middle Ages. Its flowering tops have long been used in herbal medicine, as they are reputed to "dissolve bladder stones".