Cultivating the Andromeda and Androsace
The Andromeda is a hardy flowering evergreen shrub, and this article will deal with this first.
This used to be quite a large family until the botanists split it up under such names as Oxydendrum, Pieris, Cassiope, and Zenobia, leaving only one species of garden importance under the original name; this is Andromeda polifolia, the Bog Rosemary.
This shrub belongs to the natural order Ericaceae, or heather family, and like most of its kind is a peat lover. It does best in a rather damp peaty soil of an almost boggy nature during the summer months, but some provision must be made for drainage during the winter, as swampy conditions at that season are not desirable. You will not need to do any pruning, and planting is best done in early autumn or spring.
Andromeda polifolia can be pro