Heath family collection – plants suitable for cultivation in Lithuanian conditions and representing a variety of ornamental characters.
The heath family (Ericacea) comprises 124 genera and more than 4000 species. They are herbaceous plants, shrubs, bushes or even trees, distributed all over the world. The family has a wide variety of morphological characteristics, but all genera are united by their adaptation to grow in acidic and usually poor soils and their ability to form a specific ericoid mycorrhiza. The heath family includes a large number of particularly valuable ornamental (rhododendron (Rhododendron L.), heath (Erica L.), heather (Calluna Salisb.)) and food crops (blueberry, lingonberry, cranberry (Vaccinium L.)). A large number of plants in this family have medicinal properties or are poisonous.
The aim of VU Botanical Garden is to collect all the genera of the heath family that can grow in the Lithuanian climate, to present to the visitors the widest possible variety of morphological characters and ornamental properties of these plants. The aim is also to select the most suitable varieties of rhododendrons, heaths, and heathers and for cultivation.
In Europe, rhododendrons from the Alps started to be planted in front of homes as early as the middle of the 17th century, but the real rhododendron boom started a hundred years later when the first species were introduced from the Far East and North America. In Lithuania, heath plants remained very rare until the second half of the 20th century, due to specific growing conditions and other reasons, and although VU Botanical Garden has been trying to grow rhododendrons and heath plants since its foundation in 1781, it was not until 1991 that the collection began to be collected in a focused way. Rhododendrons form the largest part of the collection, with approximately 100 species and over 200 varieties.
The collection attempts to reflect the full range of morphological characteristics of the family. From long-lived shrubs of 3-4 meters to shrubs of span height, to carpet or miniature alpine plants. Many of the plants in the collection are evergreens, while others turn spectacular autumn colors before shedding their leaves. The size of the leaves varies from just a few millimeters to 20 cm. Most genera ripen their seeds in inconspicuous capsules, but a few ripen berries or false berries in a variety of colors: white, red, blue, black. And of course, a huge variety of flower colors and shapes. Heathers and heaths have some of the smallest flowers, but the abundance of blossoms makes them among the most spectacular in the collection. Rhododendrons are unrivaled in terms of the size of their flowers and inflorescences and the variety of colors and shapes. The flowering of heath plants extends from early spring to late autumn.
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Royal azalea (Rhododendron schlippenbachii Maxim.) It is a deciduous, upright, sturdy shrub, 1-4 m tall. Dense and compact with an almost spherical crown. The bark is grayish-yellow. Leaves are obovate, unequal in size, with a distinctive and highly ornamental arrangement in whorls of 5-7 at the ends of the branchlets. In autumn it turns bright colors. The flowers are clustered in inflorescences of 3-6, broadly rotate-funnel-shaped, large, pale to rose-pink, occasionally white, usually appear before the leaves. This species, considered one of the most beautiful of all rhododendrons, is native to the open woodlands of Korean Peninsula and Manchuria. |
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Eastern teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens L.) An evergreen, rhizomatous, creeping subshrub. Stems decumbent, branches ascending and reach a height of 10-15cm. Leaves are obovate to oval or orbiculate, up to 5cm long, dark green, leathery, glossy. They turn red-purplish in winter. The small white, pendulous, bell-shaped flowers are hardly noticeable, but the plant is particularly valued for its red, berry-like fruit (capsule, surrounded by persistent, fleshy calyx) which ripens in late summer and lasts until the following summer. The fruit is edible but has a distinctive camphor smell. This ornamental colonies forming plant is native to the forests of the east coast of North America. All parts of the plant are rich in essential oils and are used in traditional medicine and the food industry. |
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Rhododendron (Rhododendron) 'Homebush' A deciduous shrub that grows to a height of 2m and a width of about 1.5m in 20 years. The light green elliptic leaves turn bright colors in autumn. Intense rose-pink flowers open in late May. They are trumpet-shaped, semi-double and clustered in compact, perfectly rounded inflorescences. The variety was bred in 1925. It is still one of the most popular azaleas and has won multiple awards. |
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Highland doghobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana (Steud.) Sleumer)
An evergreen shrub with long gracefully arching stems and a fountain-like habit. It rarely exceeds 1m in height but can spread 2m or more in width and spread by root suckers. The leaves are oblong-elliptic, pointed, thick, leathery and glossy. They turn purplish in autumn. In early summer the shrub is covered with hanging dense clusters of small, creamy white flowers. Native to the forests of the southeastern coast of North America, it is widely cultivated for its evergreen foliage and ornamental habit, and a number of varieties have been bred. |
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Bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia L.) An evergreen shrub, spreading slowly by root suckers, forming dense hummocks. Stems are ascending, abundantly leafy, up to 30cm tall. The variety is distinguished by its ornamental foliage: the narrowness of the narrowly elliptic, almost linear leaves is enhanced by their downward curling margins. Leathery, with a distinct vein pattern, bluish-green and slightly glossy above, while the lower surface is contrastingly whitish. Late spring blooms are profuse with pinkish urn-shaped flowers in clusters of 2-6. Poisonous. |
