Evergreen huckleberry, Vaccinium ovatum, with its small, glossy, dark, green leaves and new shoots tinged with bronze, is a tough, but well behaved, addition to the native garden. In the wild, it can grow to 10' tall in the shade and form dense thickets. It tends to be much shorter in the home garden when grown in part-shade. Evergreen huckleberry produces clusters of urn-shaped, small, pink flowers from spring through mid-summer. The berries, which ripen from bright red to dark purple by fall, are deliciously sweet and make wonderful pies and preserves. Grow evergreen huckleberry in part shade, in well-drained soil, for the best fruit production. While drought tolerant once established, Vaccinium ovatum will produce more fruit with some summer water during dry spells.

The Buck Lake Native Plants Garden has a cultivar of evergreen huckleberry, 'Scarlet Ovation,' planted near the south entrance in front of snowberry, and surrounded by bunchberry and oak fern. Unlike the species, 'Scarlet Ovation' is a small dense shrub, 36" tall and wide. It has bright bronze foliage in the spring that matures to green.

The flowers attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. The berries are eaten by many bird species, as well as mammals, such as foxes and bears. Deer and elk both browse the foliage.

The fruit of evergreen huckleberry was prized by Native Americans and was eaten both fresh or dried into cakes.

See the links below for more information on evergreen huckleberry