Gaultheria procumbens

Cherry Berries offers the most exceptionally large red berries you will find on a wintergreen. Bears fruit fall through spring. Its evergreen, glossy green foliage turns merlot-colored in the cool of winter. Use as a ground cover or as a cascading plant over hardscape features. Prefers part shade and acidic, humidic, woods-like, well-drained soil. Low, spreading moderate grower reaches 8-10 inches tall and 3 feet wide in optimal conditions. Introduced by Briggs Nursery. Selected by Gurjit Sidhu, Sidhu & Sons Nursery. Zones 3-8.

Wintergreen is native to the Allegheny region of the eastern U.S. Planting and care are very similar to blueberry, lingonberry and cranberry. Wintergreen is a ground cover with a shallow root system. It spreads by sending root shoots from the mother plant under the surface of the soil and leafing from the soil a few inches away from the mother plant. It spreads very well in a prepared bed of peat moss mixed with pine bark. We've planted them on top of the ground in two year old wood chips with success. If conditions of your prepared bed are optimum, you will have no problem growing wintergreen.

Wintergreen berries ripen in the fall, turning a beautiful red. They can be eaten fresh or used as flavoring in fruit salads. The leaves make a delicious wintergreen tea. As most of our plants, they are a healthful addition to any diet. also good to chew before kissing.

Good Luck.