Arctostaphylos, Bearberry, Kinnikinnick, Pinemat Manzanita 'Massachusetts'

This evergreen groundcover always looks beautiful year-round when I see it growing naturally, as on Cape Cod. In winter, the foliage take...Read Mores on purplish tones.

When planted in gardens, it can look good, but it takes time to establish and sometimes gets invaded by perennial weeds. I also find there's often a lot of winter dieback to be pruned out in the spring, which I never see in the wild.

Prefers well-drained, acid, low-fertility soils, and grows well in pure sand. Does not respond well to fertilizer. Established plants do not transplant well.

Hardy to Z2.

A sturdy reliable ground cover. It spreads gently, over years. It thrives left to its own devices. Pretty, subtle, sparse white flower...Read Mores in the spring, pretty, sparse red berries in the fall. About 3 to 4 inches tall.
I've never tried to propogate or relocate, so I don't know how it'd handle that.

My southeast Pennsylvania yard has a good quality, brown clay soil, with a tinge of orange and is barely acid of pH 6.9. If I had the tru...Read Moreely acid, silty topsoil forest soil of PA, I would have palnted my Bearberry directly into the soil. I created a berm and I amended the ground with lots of coarse sand and peatmoss, plus some sulfur and iron sulfate granules. Then I planted one small pot of Massachusetts Bearberry in 2006 offered at the nursery where I worked. It took and by 2010 it had formed a good groundcover. It has had lots of bloom in April-early May, but little fruit set. maybe it needs cross-pollination of another cultivar or mother species plant. It is a lovely groundcover! This cultivar is noted as having good resistance to leaf spot and leaf gall, its leaves are towards the small sized variance, and it is one of the most grown cultivars.