wintergreen

Photo: Unknown — LGPL · source

Survives zone 3 through 8

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Wintergreen — medicinal/methyl-salicylate flavour; a curiosity. ⚠ The berries and a light leaf tea are fine, but wintergreen essential oil is a different matter: it is concentrated methyl salicylate and is genuinely toxic in small amounts, especially to children. Do not treat the oil as a flavouring.

Hardiness

Zone 3–8

Habit

Groundcover

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Aug–Oct; berries then persist on the plant through winter into April

Mature size

Creeping evergreen mat 10–15 cm tall, spreading slowly by rhizome; excellent in containers, which also keeps the compost acid

Light

Shade to partial

Soil pH

4.0–5.5 — ⚠ STRICTLY ACID-LOVING (calcifuge). Will die on alkaline soil; use ericaceous compost + rainwater

Environment

Woodland

Native range

Eastern North America — Newfoundland and Manitoba south through the Appalachians to Georgia and Alabama

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

2–3 yrs

Growth speed

Slow

Spacing

30 cm (12 in) apart — about 11 per m² (10 per 10 sq ft)

Leaf shape

Alternate but clustered near the stem tips, oval to obovate, 2–5 cm long, glossy dark green and leathery with finely toothed bristly margins — wintergreen-scented when crushed, and bronze-purple in cold weather.

Root system

Creeping rhizomes running in only the top 2–3 cm of soil, from which short upright shoots arise — the plant is a single clonal mat rather than separate plants. Ericoid mycorrhizal and strictly calcifuge; the shallow rhizomes make it very intolerant of cultivation around it.

Fruit description

Bright red berry-like fruit about 8–12 mm across — technically a fleshy calyx enclosing the capsule rather than a true berry. Crisp, mealy and strongly wintergreen-flavoured. Persists on the plant from late summer right through to the following spring if birds leave it, which is much of its garden value.

Propagation

Divide the rhizome mat in spring, taking sections with both roots and shoots — much the most reliable method. Semi-ripe cuttings in late summer root in an ericaceous mix; seed needs stratification and is slow.

Pollination

Self-fertile

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.