Potted Heather Plant Can Be Planted Outside

QUESTION: For Valentine’s Day I bought at the supermarket a flowering potted plant called Scotch Heather. All the tiny pink bell-like flowers have fallen off, but the foliage still looks good. Should I toss this plant out or is it worth saving?

ANSWER: By all means, save it and plant it outside--if you have the space. This is Erica canaliculata , one of the best winter-flowering shrubs for Southland gardens. It becomes a bushy six-foot specimen but can be kept lower with pruning. As a cut flower, its branches will last for weeks--in water or out.

Argument Settled on Bougainvillea Flowers

Q: My friend and I are having a little argument about his bougainvillea. I say the flowers are tiny and white, and he says they are obviously big and red. Who’s right?

A: You are. The true flowers of bougainvillea are inconspicuous and white. The showy part comes from three papery bracts, which are modified leaves. Other plants with showy bracts that look like flowers are poinsettia and flowering dogwood.