Saturday, March 8, 2008

Bearberry, a.k.a. Kinnikinnick, a.k.a. Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi



Bearberry

These are low-growing, full-sun evergreen bushes native to Massachusetts. They have small, pink flowers in the Spring, and red berries in the Fall.

I bought two bearberries last year from Garden in the Woods for my dry and sunny front yard. They didn’t do much over the summer, and over the winter the color darkened to the point that I feared they were dying. But behold, they are now covered in tiny pink buds! I would love for these to cover swaths of the front yard that are currently a wasteland of mulch. As far as I am concerned, visible mulch is wasted space.

If I get any berries from the two bearberries, I’ll try to grow new plants from the seeds. However, according to the Native Plant Network, they take a year to go from seed to seedling, so I’ll have to be patient!

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