Gaultheria procumbens
Wintergreen
 
This lovely woody, evergreen groundcover can be found growing wild in many New England woodlands. The bright red berries generally persist on the plant through much of winter providing food for hungry wildlife. The easiest way to identify wintergreen is by breaking a leaf in half. Take a nice sniff and if it leaves you craving a stick of gum you likely have found wintergreen! It’s the natural source for wintergreen flavor. The red berries are technically edible but not necessarily the tastiest. We recommend never eating a berry/leaf out in the wild unless you’ve done extensive research to make sure you know what you are eating.
 
This species maxes out at about 6” and fills in densely so other plants aren’t able to grow through very well. It’s not aggressive though so plan to plant quite a few of these guys. One of the things we love about this species is that it’s a great replacement for some of those non-native evergreen groundcovers that can be so invasive..
 
Often the more common names a species has the more loved that plant is (ok that’s not always the case, sometimes the opposite). Other common names for American wintergreen: American mountain tea, boxberry, Canada tea, canterberry, checkerberry, chickenberry, creeping wintergreen, deerberry, drunkards, gingerberry, greenberry, ground berry, ground tea, grouseberry, hillberry, mountain tea, one-berry, procalm, red pollom, spice berry, squaw vine, star berry, spiceberry, spicy wintergreen, spring wintergreen, teaberry, wax cluster, and youngsters.
 
(other common names from Wikipedia)
 
Plants can be purchased in-person or online (with in-person pick-up). 
All online orders will be ready for pick-up 24-72 hours after purchase. You will receive an email to let you know when your order is ready. We kindly ask that you pick-up any orders within one week of purchase.