Bearberry - Plant

Planting and care

If you have a large plot of poor soil and need to landscape it, then bearberry ground cover is your plant. It thrives on soil poor in nutrients and sandy soil that has a hard time supporting other ground covers.

Caring for Bearberry

• Bearberry need about an inch of water each week, with an increase to 1 1/2 inches a week during hot, dry weather. An inch of rain equals 2 gallons per plant, which you may also supply by watering for half an hour with a sprinkler.
• Plant it in full sun or partial shade, in spots where it will have space to spread. While bearberry is slow to grow in the first year, it will spread rapidly once established to create mats that fill a lot of space.

Typical uses of Bearberry

Special features: Moderate to large scale ground cover with year round interest. Helps control soil erosion on slopes and hillsides.

Culinary use: The leaves are picked any time during the summer and dried for use in teas.
The fruit, also called bearberries, are edible and are sometimes gathered as food for humans.

Ornamental use: It will spread rapidly once established to create mats that fill a lot of space.

Medicinal use: The leaves are picked any time during the summer and dried for use in medicinal tea bags and tablets for traditional medicine uses.

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearberry
• https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/groundcover/bearberry/growing-bearberry-plants.htm