Kay wrote:
In article , Alex
Woodward
writes
I have an heather bed (semi-successful) and would like to know
other
plants that will compliment it. The soil is probably alkaline

That might be why it's only semi successful - many heathers will
not
tolerate an alkaline soil.

and is clay based.
Having said that, I have recently added huge amounts of peat based
compost and horticultural grit etc to lower its level and help it
to
drain. Recently added spring heathers are doing great, but the
summer flowering ones seem to be struggling.

IIRC that's right - the winter flowering heathers are Erica carnea
and
will tolerate lime, the summer ones are other ericas and Calluna
and
need a non-alkaline to acid soil.

I'd give up on Callunas in your position: there's no point in busting
your spheroids to grow a plant where nature doesn't believe in it.
What to grow with heaths and heathers is a very tricky problem: I've
never really solved it. Conservatively speaking, you want things
which would grow along with them in the wild; but since gardening is
artificial anyhow, who wants to be conservative? The traditional
compromise is dwarf conifers of various kinds, and forget about
producing a summer display in the same bed: I rather like the effect,
but some think it's too corny for words. At my last place I ended up
with old-fashioned pinks round my rocky heath bed: when they were in
full bloom and scent you forgot about the ericas, and while the
ericas were in bloom you forgot about the pinks. Shortish (= up to
five feet or so) conifers towards the middle, pinks towards and at
the edges. I had a few shrubby St John's Worts and some pink
chionodoxa in there, too; and I'm still trying to decide if they were
a good idea or not. I'll visit my purchasers one day, and if they've
left it alone I'll decide it worked.

I'd say grow whatever you fancy, and rip it out if you don't like it.
You may well decide that the bed should contain nothing but the
ericas. A bit of moss would be good company, though.

--
Mike.