How to Care for a Wintergreen Plant

Wintergreen's delicate flowers appear in the summer.

Wintergreen, known botanically as Gaultheria procumbens, is a perennial evergreen shrublet with glossy, scalloped leaves that smell minty when crushed. A compact plant, wintergreen grows just 6 inches tall and spreads via creeping rhizomes to form a matted ground cover. The plant looks especially stunning in the fall and winter months, when it is covered with wintergreen-flavored red berries. Wintergreen doesn't require much special care, but it can be difficult to successfully cultivate outside of United States Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zones 3 through 7.

Things You'll Need

• Compost or aged manure
• Peat moss or pine straw
• Pruning shears

Instructions

1. Water your wintergreen plant once a week in the absence of rain. Provide as much water as necessary to moisten the soil to a depth of 4 to 6 inches. Keep the soil consistently moist, as wintergreen does not perform well in dry conditions.

2. Fertilize wintergreen with an organic fertilizer in the early spring, before the plant presents new growth. Spread a 1-inch layer of compost or aged manure over the surface of the soil around the wintergreen to give it the nutrients it needs to produce healthy growth.

3. Maintain a 2-inch layer of mulch around your wintergreen plant to conserve soil moisture and suppress the growth of weeds. For best results, use an organic mulching material such as peat moss or pine straw.

4. Harvest leaves from your wintergreen plant from June to September; this is when they contain the most methyl salicylate, an essential oil that gives wintergreen its characteristic smell. Snip the leaves from the plant with a pair of sharpened and sterilized pruning shears. You can harvest the leaves from your wintergreen plant twice each growing season.

Tips & Warnings

• Dried wintergreen leaves can be used as an herbal tea. Lay the leaves flat in a cool, dry location until they are dry enough to crumble between your fingers.

• Wintergreen performs poorly in warm, humid climates. Gardeners in unsuitable climates may have more success growing their wintergreen indoors.

References

• "The Essential Garden"; Liz Dobbs; 2002
• University of Connecticut: Gaultheria procumbens
• NC State University: Gaultheria procumbens (Wintergreen)
• Virginia Tech Extension: Teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens)

Resources

• Duke University: Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map