Photo: Doug McGrady, CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Golden Heather

Hudsonia ericoides

Also called pine barren goldenheather, pine-barren false heather.

A low evergreen mat of needle-fine leaves that turns bright yellow with flowers in late spring, on the sand barrens of the Northeast.

RareEvergreenShowy flowersDrought tolerant

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 1–2 ft
USDA zones: 5–8
Growth rate: Slow
Sun: Full
Soil moisture: Dry
Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, the coast, rocky ground and dry uplands
Native range: 11 states, north to Maine and south and west to South Carolina
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Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Vermont
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Golden heather is a low, mat-forming evergreen of the rockrose family, with needle-like leaves that give it the look of a heath. It grows on open sand from Newfoundland south to Maryland, with one outlying population in South Carolina. Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maryland list it as endangered, and Rhode Island lists it as threatened. It needs open ground, where fire or other disturbance keeps taller plants away. It has always been hard to grow in gardens. Give it full sun on dry, poor, sandy ground, where nothing taller can shade it.

Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth. Its close relative woolly beach heather is called slow-growing, so our growth estimator treats it as slow. It makes a dense mat 6 inches to a foot tall that can spread 3 feet across, from a single taproot up to 6 inches deep.

Bright yellow flowers about a third of an inch across open from May into July, each on its own slender stalk near the branch tips. The small capsules ripen in August and September. Bees visit the flowers. The tiny seed can lie in the soil for years, and a hot fire that clears the ground brings up new plants. The old plants do not sprout back after a fire.

It grows wild mostly near the coast, from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia south to Maryland, with one outlying population in South Carolina. Its home is open sand in pine barrens, sandplain grasslands, dunes, upper beaches and roadsides. It also grows on granite ledges.

How to grow Golden Heather

Golden heather needs full sun, and taller plants that shade it crowd it out. It wants a dry, acid, sandy soil low in nutrients, like the pine barrens and sandplains where it grows wild. Set plants 2 feet apart and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them in spring or fall in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper, and put the sandy soil back in. Golden heather is hard to raise from seed. In one trial, seed stored cold for two years came up poorly, whether it was kept dry or damp. For its relative woolly beach heather, 60 days of cold, damp storage seems to work best so far.

Water it through dry spells until it is established. After that it is adapted to drought.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, and bees visit the flowers. Keep taller plants from shading it, and do not step on it, since trampling harms it.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (15)