Search just our sites by using our customised search engine

Unique Cottages | Electric Scotland's Classified Directory

Click here to get a Printer Friendly PageSmiley

Scotch Heather


In the town of Hartland, in the north western part of Hartford County, Connecticut, at an elevation of 1200 feet, there is a good stand of Calhma vulgaris, which extends over an area of about an acre. Since it is rather unusual to find this shrub in such a location, which has very little protection from the winter cold, the writer attempted to trace the history of the introduction of the plant to this part of Connecticut.

Mr. L. E. Pearson, a forester in Connecticut, first noticed it when looking over the woodland of the present owners, Dr. and Mrs. Henry A. Sturman. Most of the following information was obtained by the Sturmans in conversation with local inhabitants of the area. The present Sturman farm was owned by one John Schwaller and his wife, who came to America from Alsace-Lorraine in the 1870s and settled on the property in Hartland. It is reported that the original seeds of the present stand of heather were sent in a letter from Mrs. Schwallcr's mother who told her daughter that the shrub would be valuable for winter forage for the cows. The exact year the seeds were sent is not known hut presumably at least 40 years ago, and possibly 50 or 00 years ago. It would probably be safe to assume that the stand has been in existence for 50 years.

The present site is an old field which has commenced to grow up with gray birch, white pine and some juniper, as well as mountain laurel. It would appear that the pines offer some protection from the winter storms. However, the site being on the top of a rather exposed hill, does not appear to be a location in which the heather would thrive. The remarkable thing is that it has apparently continued to spread slowly for about half a century. Some of the plants show evidence of winter killing in the tops but the branches underneath seem to remain protected so they leaf out again each spring and come into full flower each summer. At this writing, the sixth of August, the plants are in full bloom and present a beautiful sight. In conversation with Dr. and Mrs. Sturman a few days ago they said some Scottish friends of theirs, now living in this country, actually had tears in their eyes when they viewed the shrubs in full bloom. — S. E. Parker, pleasant valley, Connecticut.


Return to Scottish Historical Articles


 


This comment system requires you to be logged in through either a Disqus account or an account you already have with Google, Twitter, Facebook or Yahoo. In the event you don't have an account with any of these companies then you can create an account with Disqus. All comments are moderated so they won't display until the moderator has approved your comment.

comments powered by Disqus

Quantcast