I treated myself to a leisurely morning at Bayview Farm and Garden Nursery this week on one of our sunny days – no errands to do afterward and no deadlines to get home to. I’ve been working on a garden design where we will need to rely heavily on a transitional zone of plants that will connect the garden to it’s wooded surroundings – not an uncommon challenge in our island gardens. I came across this plant, Vaccinium glauco-album.
While, as its name suggests, it’s not a Northwest native, it certainly reminds me of salal, with pink flowers followed by black-blue berries. The foliage is very nice – blue green above and white on the underside. Size is 3′ x 3′ and hardy to zone 7 – as is confirmed by a friend who grew it evergreen here over the past few winters.
I also saw some evergreen huckleberry / Vacciumium ovatum in four inch pots, which would be a great way to start your own transitional zone.
