The Garden at Winterhaven Devas, Nature Spirits, Fairies Oh My

Red Huckleberry

The Red Huckleberry is a lovely deciduous shrub. It has a layered form and grows in deep shade to full sun in our yard. It makes little round red berries that are pretty sour but the birds simply love them.

A number of folks I know who are native Washingtonians love these little berries that they've eaten since they were kids.

We have them all over the property. I am especially fond of one that grows right by our front door and another that I can see from our dining room table.

Evergreen Huckleberry

The Evergreen Huckleberry is as its name implies an evergreen shrub. It doesn't get as tall as the Red Huckleberry and has a form much more like a small blueberry.

It bears lovely dark blue/black blueberry-like berries. It likes well drained soil and partial sun. I have a pair of them planted in the area across the driveway from the kitchen side of the house. They were planted in spring 2008 and have established very nicely though they haven't bloomed yet and I don't expect them to for a number of years.

Salmon Berry

Salmon Berry is a upright arching deciduous shrub. It has deep pink flowers in the spring that are followed by red raspberry-like berries. This is another berry that I think you have to have grown up to love since it's pretty seedy and not very sweet.

I like them for their form and the lovely splashes of color the flowers give. They grow mostly in shady areas in our yard.

If you have Salmon berries in your yard and you want to remove them, beware, it's a LOT of work. They need to be yanked out by the roots which produce runners to create more bushes. It can be quite the process.

Dew Berry

Dew Berry is the native blackberry that sends out horizontal runners along the ground. I not so fondly call them ankle biters since they tend to grab you at ankle height and try to trip you.

They grow in full sun to partly to mostly shady areas and produce a nice sweet blackberry that are on the smallish side. Once established they're hard to get rid of but not hard to keep contained--as opposed to the Himalayan and Evergreen Blackberries that were introduced here and will take over the world if you let them.

Oregon Grape

Oregon Grape comes in two forms: a tall one and a short one. Winterhaven has mostly short ones that are only a foot or so tall. The taller ones get to be over 3 feet tall.

Both bushes have holly-like leaves and bright yellow flowers that yield dark black fruits. The fruits aren't particularly good for eating but a great source of pectin for making jam in a pinch. The birds like the berries.

Oregon grape grows mostly in pretty deep shade on our property along the margins of the woods.