divaqs's Blog
divaqs's posts about: evergreen
May 19, 2007 | 8:29 AM PST
Tags: Wintergreen , Eastern Teaberry , Checkerberry , Boxberry , Gaultheria procumbens , edible , evergreen , groundcover , berries
Since I wrote last about an edible evergreen groundcover, I thought I would mention another one that I have and really like, namely American Wintergreen, or sometimes called Eastern Teaberry, Checkerberry, or Boxberry. The Latin name is Gaultheria procumbens.
This is native to the U.S. East Coast, though endangered there. Grows in zones 3 to 9 and loves shade. It spreads via root to a diameter of something like 12 inches. It is low growing reaching about 6 inches in height. It is one of the very few edibles I have that have berries in the late fall and winter. The berries are red with a white center, which remind me of candy.
I love the flavor of the leaves and berries. If you have ever eaten Wintergreen Lifesavers or had some of Wrigleys Winterfresh chewing gum, then you have tasted the flavor of this plant’s leaves and berries.
This is my favorite thing to include in my homemade teas. If allowed to steep for awhile, the flavor will cover over many nasty medicinal herb flavors, allowing me to give some medicinal teas to my kids when they were younger. Personally, I just like the flavor and include it whenever I can with my mint and chamomile teas. I’ve read that you can increase the intensity of the flavor by first fermenting the leaves for a few days in some warm water, though I have never tried that.
The berries can also be used in a nice winter-time fruit salad. Imagine the surprise of your family or friends when encountering the wintergreen flavor from a red berry, about the size and shape of a pea.
My one point of frustration with this plant as a ground cover is that it is slow growing. I wish it would grow faster, so I could use it more often. I have to use a lot of restraint to not keep picking at the newer leaves for just chewing on or using with tea. I am planning on compensating for this by buying more and filling in the plants closer to each other.
Apr 14, 2007 | 10:32 PM PST
Tags: blueberries , hedge , blueberry , evergreen , landscaping
It always surprises me when people assume edibles can't be attractively organized.
Oftentimes making edibles attractive is simply a matter of using the same principles in design with them as is done with ornamentals. An example of this are my evergreen blueberry hedges that line my drive way.
One of my very first projects after moving into my house a little more then three years ago was to rip out the horribly overgrown Junipers and replace them with about 20 evergreen blueberry bushes.
Here is a picture of the "ornamental" juniper bushes that used to line my driveway three years ago.
Personally, I thought they were anything but ornamental.
Today I took a photo of one of the hedge rows that now line my driveway.
The blueberry bushes haven't reached full size yet, but are getting close to forming a hedge. The trick to getting them to form a hedge is planting them a little closer together then is recommended. The recommendations are based on optimizing space for maximum berry production, but my experience has been that even with them spaced closer together I get way more blueberries than my family can keep up with.
This time of year the blueberry bushes have a nice splash of extra color while covered with a large amount of pinkish ribbed bell shaped flowers.
The variety of blueberries I planted for hedges were the Evergreen Sunshine Blueberries, described by my favorite nursery, Raintree Nursery, as:
"A unique evergreen selection with attractive year round foliage and hot pink spring flowers. The bush grows 3-4 feet tall and wide, and produces up to ten pounds of delicious, light blue, medium sized berries. They ripen over a very long season, from early August through early September. Hardiness to 0 degrees F, a very low chilling requirement of only 150 chilling hours and a tolerance for higher pH soils makes this a perfect choice for gardeners in the Pacific Northwest, the South or in California."
I like having a good selection of evergreen plants in the front yard, for year round affect. My blueberry hedges are a big part of that. In the fall there is a time that they shed a lot of their leaves, which shocked me the first time I saw it, since I thought they might have a disease, but after two years of observing this, have come to accept it as normal. Even when shedding leaves in the fall they have new leaves growing, so they are never completely bare.
