Another beautiful sunny day, and just on the way out of the office for a field trip, all good things for keeping creative floral inspiration flowing, and you may have noticed that here, lately, it has been nearly overflowing, thanks to a wonderful combination of raindrops and sunshine!
This field trip is all about Heather Sparsa!
Heather Sparsa or sometimes called ker-ker or Pink-smoke heath is a fynbos shrub that produces masses of small, pale rosy pink to white flowers in early winter, that turn the whole bush pink completely obscuring the leaves. And, when held in the palm of your hand, the delicate stem has the texture of velvet.
Its common name ker-ker is mimicking the sound made when walking through and brushing past the plants. Pink-smoke heath refers to the way the flowers cover the upward-pointing flowering branches, making them look like plumes of pink smoke rising up.
Did you know the Ericaceae family is divided into two different genera of plants: heaths and heathers? Although both belong to the same family, they are botanically different and are divided into the Erica genus and the Calluna genus. The heaths belong to the Erica genus and there are approximately 4,500 species worldwide and of these 700 occur in the Cape Floral Kingdom, making them the largest family of fynbos .
The Erica with its upright spirals of brilliant blossoms can be described, as simply elegant. The vibrant blossoms vary in shape and size from tiny to several inches in length and come in virtually all color combinations except blue. Other than heaths' greater susceptibility to cold weather, the main difference between heaths and heathers is that heaths have needlelike leaves rather than flat leaves; and come in taller shrub forms and even some small trees.
Here’s just of a few of our favorites grown here in Rainbow:
Erica Sparsa
Erica Verticillata
Erica Versicolor
Erica Baueri
Erica Baueri - White
For a glimpse of more heaths here’s a link to our Pinterest Board!
Ericas have become a welcome addition to our world of flowers!
