A blue - develop Native and Hardy Groundcover to Plant Under Trees and bush
If you ask a untiring landscape painting problem solver for part shaded locations , consider groundberry . This repeated evergreen makes a colourful groundcover around nicety - loving shrubs for a low - maintenance garden . Wintergreen brim over with pursuit year - orotund . The attractive leaves are paired with livid flower in summertime and bright cerise berries and reddish - bronze leafage in fall . stand just 4 to 8 inches improbable , it bosom the priming , choking out weeds while creating a heavy mat of glossy foliage . Wintergreen spreads slowly and moderately by underground rhizomes to form a dim mat . Plant breeders have introduced several wintergreen cultivars featuring larger berries , a more pronounced evenfall color , and a hard public exposure substance abuse .
Wintergreen is also popular as a pot vacation gift works .
Where to Plant Wintergreen
Choose a location in partial nicety where the soil is acidulent , moist , and well - drain .
In its native environs , wintergreen flourish in nerveless , dampish woodland preferences , especially under evergreen plant trees . It also works well as a ground cover around deciduous acid - loving native trees and shrubs such as quite a little Stan Laurel , rhododendrons , and snowberry . industrial plant ground-berry in groups or drifts rather than as a specimen so it forms dense mats .
How and When to Plant Wintergreen
Plant wintergreen in the spring or fall . grasp a hole about twice the diam of the baby’s room locoweed and about the same depth . Place the industrial plant in the pickle and fill in original dirt to the top of the rootage orb . softly tamp down the grease and water it well . Keep it well - watered for the first grow time of year to allow the works to establish a strong ascendent organization .
Space plant 10 to 14 inches apart , or more depending on the circulate habit of the motley .
Wintergreen Care Tips
As is the case with many native works , boxberry is depressed - maintenance and care - free .
Light
plant life wintergreen in partial or mottled shadiness . It will grow in full shade but flowering will be thin out .
Soil and Water
teaberry is not demanding in terms of grime quality and even grows in nourishing - poor filth . effective drainage , on the other deal , is important , as is slenderly acidic soil with apH between 4.5 and 6.0 . spiceberry flourish in sandlike , loose stain .
The flora only needs regular lachrymation during the first growing season until it is demonstrate . After that , only water it in protract period of drouth . blanket the ground around the plant with a 2 - inch - thick bed ofshredded bark mulchslows down soil wet loss .
Temperature and Humidity
checkerberry is well adapted to the clime in the Northeastern and Central United States and Canada with moderate summers , subzero winters , and average out to high humidness . It is not suitable to be grown in hot , desiccate mood .
Fertilizer
Wintergreen does not command the program of a commercial plant food . Instead , dot a layer of decaying leaf around the base of the plants . Just like in its native habitat , the constituent matter supplies wintergreen with nutrient over fourth dimension .
Pruning
There is no need to prune teaberry other than to off unsightly , old , woody , or busted bow . This type of cleanup is best done in the other saltation before the raw increment starts .
Potting and Repotting Wintergreen
Especially during the holiday time of year , you ’ll find potted wintergreen for sale . While the plant can be grown in a wad , leave it in the can long - condition is not idealistic if you want it to come back the next year . During the winter , the plant should be kept outdoors , not indoors . However , in areas with cold winter , the roots are insufficiently insulate against the winter cold , unlike in garden territory . Either shoes the pot in a big container and fill it with backbone or mulch to make a planting silo , or bury it in the ground . In the spring , grasp it out and transfer it to the landscape .
If you leave the flora in the locoweed and it makes it through the winter , repotting becomes necessary when theme fill the container or grow out of the drainage hole . Repot the plant to a larger pot with fresh , well - draining potting mix or a especially forge planting soil for superman - have it away plants . think back that potted plants take more frequent lachrymation than plants in the landscape painting , peculiarly during the summer .
Pests and Problems
teaberry Is not susceptible to serious pests or diseases . You might rule aphid and thrips on the plants but usually , they are easily washed away with a hose . Potential disease of wintergreen are powdery mildew and foliage spot . Overwatering or poor drainage can cause rootage rot .
How to Propagate Wintergreen
If you want to propagate ground-berry , verify that it is not acultivar that is protected by a plant patentand thus prohibited from multiplication . To propagate wintergreen , in the late springiness or former summer , locate a strong stem on a level-headed boxberry flora . cut into it up with all its roots . Dust the theme part with rooting internal secretion ( if the stem has a lot of roots attached to it , this is not necessary ) . Plant the stem in a 4 - inch dope filled with damp potting mix and keep the crapper alfresco but aside from direct sun , Water it regularly to keep it evenly moist .
When new ontogenesis appears , the shank has root . Delay transplanting it in the landscape painting and give the flora a few more week to grow strong .
Types of Wintergreen
‘Cherry Berries’
This cultivar was named after its outstanding feature , the large sizing of its red berries . The flora grows 10 inch tall and spreads up to 3 groundwork , much wider than the species . Zone 3 - 8
‘Redwood’
Pink blossom in the natural spring , red berry in the fall , and deep red foliage in the winter provide color year - round . The cultivar has a depressed growth habit , attain only 4 to 6 inches in stature but scatter up to 3 feet . Zone 3 - 8
‘Winter Splash’
The vary foliage on this Gaultheria procumbens is a first and it looks especially attractive against the vivid red berries that appear on the industrial plant in the dusk . The works grow 12 inches high . Zone 3 - 8
‘Winter Fiesta'
The berry of this Nipponese cultivar ( ‘ Hokutotakaji-001 ) are bi - color , starting out white and turn cotton - candy pinko in the wintertime . The plant only grows 4 to 6 column inch improbable and spreads up to 3 invertebrate foot .
Winter Green Companion Plants
Ostrich Fern
This grand fern , which is native to the easterly American woodlands , has become a staple plant of woodland garden . Ostrich fernhas large upright frond resembling their namesake fowl ’s feathers . The industrial plant creates a backdrop for other industrial plant and diffuse to quickly sate a garden space . Zone 3 - 7
Oregon Grape Holly
Native to westerly North America , Oregongrape hollyis abroadleaf evergreen shrubthat does best in shade or timberland gardens with moist but well - drained , acidic or neutral soil . grape vine Holly render many different people of color throughout the growing time of year . Zone 5 - 9
Arrowwood Viburnum
For a native flora landscape , selectViburnum dentatum , a viburnum that is native to surface area of North America . It offers a good show of orange - lily-livered decline color , clustering of clean flower in spring to former summertime , and blue - black fruits in fall . It raise 10 feet tall and extensive . zone 3 - 8
Frequently Asked Questions
The berry are edible though their gently sweet and minty taste is not to everyone ’s like . They are not heavy bearers either so you ’d need a lot of plant to harvest a handful of berries . The berries of wintergreen as well left for wildlife .
The two plants are botanically unrelated , Mint is a flora in the mint family ( Lamiaceae ) whereas mountain tea is a plant in the heath ( Ericaceae ) family . The chemical substance compounds that are responsible for for the mint flavor are also different . In mint , those are menthol and eucalyptol and in wintergreen , it ’s methyl radical salicylate .
update by Nadia Hassani
