Cold weather property owners and coastal gardeners - are you blessed with long stretches of gravelly ground, steep hills, or rocky 'no man's land' on your property?

You are so lucky!

Use the rough and tumble Massachusetts Kinnikinnick shrub (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi 'Massachusetts') as a fabulous broadleaf evergreen that solves all your groundcover needs beautifully! Not all of us are so fortunate to have just the right spot for this low-growing, wide-spreading flowering native!

Also known as Bearberry, the delicate rounded leaves cover the ground-hugging branches and are joined by pretty pink and white flowers in early spring that pollinators love. The shrub is then covered in red berries in fall and birds flock to feast!

Cold-hardy throughout USDA planting zones 2 to 6, these are low-growing shrubs reaching only a foot high but spread to an amazing 8 to 10 feet in width! Drought tolerant and very easy to grow, you will enjoy glossy greenery all year round, except for during the autumn when the chill in the air tints the foliage red-gold!

Planting and Application:

Fine-textured, this is a wonderful selection for the right site to prevent soil erosion. It will drape softly over a rock wall to soften the look. Fill that hard-to-mow hillside or eroding slope with evergreen beauty, darling blooms, and bird-friendly cover and food!

Plant this to naturalize in rougher areas of your property or use along the edge of garden borders in full sun! Rambling wide and low, Kinnikinnick acts as living mulch or evergreen groundcover, filling bare ground of your landscaping beds, between shrubs, and as facer plants before larger shrubs and hedges.

Let these evergreen shrubs act as spillers in large planters, or rambling through the Coastal Garden, among Rock Gardens, and as cascading over the tops of retaining walls! Go big by covering large sunny areas wherever an en masse bank of greenery is needed.

• Glossy Small Broadleaf Evergreen Leaves
• Darling White & Pink Bell-Shaped Blooms
• Red Berries For Birds In The Fall
• Reddish-Gold Fall Tint
• Low-Growing & Wide-Spreading Groundcover Shrub
• Groundcover, En Masse, Erosion & Containers

#ProPlantTips for Care:

Best in full sun, this relative of the Manzanita grows in arid desert climates that grow natively throughout the southwestern US. It performs best in sparse slightly acidic soils without fertilization, is xeric and drought-resistant, and is extremely cold-hardy once established, but until then, ensure new plants have Nature Hills Root Booster and regular watering. Provide 3-4 inches of arborist mulch to hold in moisture more consistently and insulate the roots. Prune after the flowers fade to keep these smaller if needed.

• Full Sun Shrub
• Moderate to Low Moisture Needs - Xeric Once Established
• Any Well-Drained Slightly-Acidic Soil - Best In Low Fertility
• Prune After Flowering
• Salt, Deer, & Rabbit Resistant

Nature Hills Nursery is not able to keep this rare, wonderful evergreen shrub in stock, so please order your own Massachusetts Kinnikinnick evergreen groundcover shrubs today!