I do pride myself on being a good gardener on the whole I get success but heathers have always been an exception, even though I have always used errecacous compost. I planted six last year and one survives and its hardly grow at all. They are not in boggy ground.
My wife loves the plants and we have an ideal location to plant a group of five or six plants.
I live in St Albans which has a London type soil its a clay loam with plenty of stones.
I want to try again but I am bewildered by the varieties.

My criteria a

Must be soil tolerant (I will use erracacous compost, but I dont want it to die later on)

Must be fast growing - I am too old for anything else

Must form large bushes, wider the better, hopefully about 12 to 15 inches high.
Colour is not so critical purple would be fine, but maybe a variety of colours.


Given these criteria, I have three questions please

1] What varieties?

2] Where to get proper (not measly) specimins via the net

3] If there are any planting tips appart from using correct compost and free draining then i would be grateful to know


If you know the answer to any of htese questions I would love to hear from you