If you want to keep some color in your garden during a Maine winter, you can’t go wrong with cultivated Heather. It remains colorful, has a fascinating texture, and – perhaps most important – the deer seem to hate it. Cultivars of Heather come in a variety of colors, but our favorite is the one shown here, which turns dark red in winter and is stunning in snow.
In its uncultivated form, Heather is a hardy native of the rocky and windy heaths of Scotland, where it is common and its twigs were once used for making brooms. Hence, its scientific name is Calluna vulgaris, from the Greek verb kallune, to brush or clean, and the Latin word vulgaris, meaning common. Its English name, Heather, is thought to be a transliteration of the Scottish word for heath, haeddre. (Brooklin, Maine)