Acid loving plants are originally from woodland areas and prefer cool more or less shady environments and soil that is leafy, humus rich, moist but well drained. There are also many acid loving plants that need and will tolerate sunny open sites.

 Providing that the soil is not excessively acid (the acid side of neutral) there is a huge range of plants that are likely to thrive, excluding only those that positively demand alkaline conditions. If your soil is very acid it may fail to support even the most dedicated acid lovers and careful applications of lime will be required to moderate the acidity. If you want to grow acid loving plants (like Azaleas and Rhododendrons) but your soil is alkaline, the best solution is to create a raised bed filled with ericaceous compost on perforated polythene or grow plants in containers. Be prepared to top dress annually with more ericaceous compost or peat and test you soil for acidity. Lowering the acidity of lime rich soil is difficult but flowers of sulphur can be applied or chelated iron compounds can be used to help prevent iron chlorosis which is a common problem of some plants growing on acid soils.