Mary Henry
There was a time when a Hallmark card, a box of chocolates, and a dozen roses were the go-to recipe for a swooning frenzy on Valentine’s Day. Nothing wrong with these standards, but our culture has become more discerning, more practical, and brutally resistant to cliches. So, given your sweetheart is a gardener (as you likely are — after all, you’re reading this column) think outside the box and give the gift that grows, like your love, and is equally evergreen.
The offerings are many: Clematis, Hellebores, most any house plant (artfully spruced-up with a red bow or a lace heart). Lesser known, but equally more in the spirit of the holiday, is Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens). This diminutive plant is first cousin to our native Salal (G. shallon) which is well known as a cut green for florist bouquets.
Gaultheria procumbens grows in mounds, about six inches tall, slowly spreading on rhizomes. In time it can be a handsome ground cover for shade gardens, perfect under plants like Rhododendron and Pieris. It is happiest in light shade, does fine in heavier shade, full sun will burn the small, thick and leathery, dark green leaves. It needs rich, loose acid soil that stays constantly moist but not soggy. The abundant foliage is oval and measures an inch and a half in length.
In summer the plant sports small, pinkish-white flowers which turn into many plump red fruits, about the size of a large blueberry. The sweep of green covered with bright red berries lasts most of the Winter. It’s a real spectacle on the floor of its native deciduous forests.
The slow growing, compact habit of Wintergreen makes it ideal for pots, large or small. It does well in containers, both indoors and outside. In a large terra cotta pot, space four nursery plants, from 4-inch pots, about six inches apart. In no time you’ll have a handsome mound of green bespeckled with cheerful scarlet fruits to embellish a shady corner of the garden. The plant is also commonly used in terrariums.
The name Winterberry comes from the fact that this forest carpeting plant stands out in an otherwise defoliated, dormant forest in its native habitat: Northeastern North America, from Newfoundland and New England, west to Minnesota, and south to the mountains of Georgia.
Chew on the leaves of Winterberry and you’ll get a distinct wintergreen flavor. The leaves can be brewed, resulting in another antiquated moniker for this plant: Teaberry.
So, give your Valentine something as long lasting as your love. Easy to grow, evergreen, with an extended period of beauty, say “I love you” with Winterberry.