ANYONE who goes walking on the moors will recognise Erica straightaway. A beautiful, almost endless carpet of colourful ground-covering plants with flowers that give colour in the cold months.

And who wouldn’t like that in their garden or on their patio or balcony in deep mid-winter?

When it has finished flowering, Erica is also an attractive addition to the garden all year round with just a bit of care. It is evergreen, ground-covering and easy!

Erica is a very extensive genus of plants, with hundreds of species, most of which originate from southern Africa.

The most important two, Erica carnea and Erica darleyensis, are real winter heathers and flower from December to March/April. Erica carnea is more compact and Erica darleyensis has a looser growing habit.

They look attractive in group plantings in borders or pots. The colours are pink, lilac or white. The foliage can also be different colours: green, yellow, orange and bronze are all eye-catching.

Winter heather plants prefer an acid soil. You can use special heather mixture to create acid soil, or add garden turf or partly-composted conifer needles to the soil. Erica carnea will also tolerate less acid soil, so it can cope with chalky soil.

It’s important that the soil is damp and well-draining. The plants do well in full sun, but also in partial shade. Erica combines well with other acid-loving plants like conifers and plants from the Ericaceae family.

You can remove brown wilted flowers by running your hand through the plant.

It’s a good idea to keep Erica ‘down’ in the garden as well. If winter heather plants are not pruned regularly, they will only produce flowers on long woody stems.

This will give them a less attractive shape, and after a while, their nice compact ground-covering characteristics will be lost.

Pruning back to the old wood is also less likely to produce new shoots.

Prune the heather plants when they have finished flowering in March. For winter-flowering Erica plants, pruning in April or May is best.

Pruning ensures the plants continue to grow well, produce plenty of flowers next winter and remain young and healthy.