Best of bunch: Bearberry (From Worcester News)

Best of bunch: Bearberry

10:21am Monday 4th January 2010 in

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These mostly evergreen shrubs, which originate from western North America and particularly California come in all shapes and sizes.

Some act as ground cover, while others grow upright to heights of about six metres (20ft).

Low-growing bearberries such as arctostaphylos alpina look fantastic in rockeries at this time of year.

Bearberries produce bunches of fragile-looking white to pink flowers in winter or spring.

Small berries – usually scarlet but sometimes brown, purple or black – appear in autumn.

They prefer moist, fertile, welldrained acid soil in full sun or partial shade.

Sow seed in containers in a cold frame in autumn. Mature shrubs can be layered during the autumn to increase stock.