“I have plucked this sprig of Heather”
Erica carnea 'Snow Queen'
So begins a poem by the great 20th Century French Poet Guillaume Apollinaire (see below). I hasten to point out that the plants depicted (blooming right now at Denver Botanic Gardens) are technically not heathers (Calluna vulgaris–a single species from Northern Europe) but heath (Erica–an astronomically larger group with hundreds of species mostly in South Africa). They’re all very closely related, so let’s not get too technical with common names, now. The pictured species from central and eastern Europe (Erica carnea) is notable for many reasons: it is by far the hardiest of heathers, the one that loves limy soils and thrives in Colorado with only a modicum of supplemental irrigation: and best of all it blooms much of the late winter and spring.
- Erica carnea ‘Vivelli’ in Rock Alpine Garden
I’ve been disappointed in a few plants this spring: some of the bulbs have passed too quickly, and with our polar cold (-22F at my house) there has been winter damage, albeit far less than I feared. But the winter heaths are simply spectacular. I am distressed that plants that thrive so manifestly, that we have shown off so superbly at Denver Botanic Gardens for so many decades have literally languished in undeserved and pitiful obscurity, while Box Stores and even our noble local garden centers stock so many plants (how shall I put it tactfully?) of lesser merit. Considerably lesser merit….ahem!
Fear not! You can buy these from many sources mail order! A great way to get plants, by the way (and with Paypal and the new convenient computer programs, you can be bankrupt in no time at all!). If you didn’t get it, I linked the very best source subliminally at the start of this paragraph…
Now let’s get back to Literature: clear your throat, lean back and declaim (in your very best French):
L’automne est morte souviens-t’en
Nous ne nous verrons plus sur terre
Odeur du temps Brin de bruyère
Et souviens-toi que je t’attends
Farewell
I have plucked this sprig of heather / Remember herein that autumn has died / We shall never again see one another / Whiff of that time–a sprig of heather / And I still wait for you–remember!
Guillaume Apollinaire
April 2, 2011 at 11:26 am
Hello, Mr. P!
How are you?? I was just thinking about you today as I was weeding an area around a small pond here in Switzerland. And now this, “I have plucked this sprig of Heather”….
Jeff and I have been terrible correspondents, but we think of you and I’m glad to see you are still at the gardens. I will send a note to Jeff to have him read this article of yours.
We are still in Seattle and Colorado. We did a house swap of the Colorado house for a house in Switzerland for a few months. A Swiss family is in our home; we are in theirs here. (Jeff is to join me soon, he is still in Seattle at our apartment there.)
Much to say, but I hesitate to do so in this forum, not knowing if you review the submissions personally, or if someone else does. Are you at the gardens regularly or no? Perhaps the Swiss will come to visit the gardens soon.
Thank you for all your work at the gardens and in the world at large.
Best regards,
Debra Kalin (enamorata of Jeffry Scott)