wintergreens

Summer is pretty green around here, not like California, where summer is brown. Winter is our brown time, but there are plenty of greens around in the winter here. Think of pine, spruce, hemlock, cedar and other "evergreen" trees. Also rhododendrons and their relatives, and holly.
But those are all big plants. Some of the most charming are the little ground covers.
I really like old-fashioned wintergreen. It is cute, and it smells nice, and it spreads. The dark green leaves and bright red berries are so cheerful. The woods behind my house has the traditional wintergreen, but there is also the spotted wintergreen, which is actually striped (and sometimes called striped wintergreen). I also have vinca, or periwinkle, around my house, and partridgeberry. These are both groundcovers as well, and the partridgeberry even has a postal stamp!

Here are some photos of my local flora...

Chimaphila maculata spotted wintergreen



Gaultheria procumbens wintergreen

with berries



Mitchella repens partridgeberry (left) and Vinca minor periwinkle