I was thinking of planting either bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) or American Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) in the mulched/improved area underneath some specimen pines. The areas are shaded, but not densely so. A thin coating of good soil over dense clay or pure sand. One of the possible locations gets a lot of wind and occasionally salt. Which of these plants would work better? Any other suggestions as to native North American ground covers that are evergreen or have berries? Has to be low maintenance as it would get little aftercare. On of the ideas is to get a patch of something pretty/interesting/wildlife friendly around the sign with the street number.

There are many different forms of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi. Most are native to the Pacific coast. There are at least a couple native to the Rockies and some more east of there. They are all adapted to their native environments (e.g., the A. uva-ursi native to Anchorage is hardier than the A. uva-ursi native to Point Reyes, California). Thus, it is important that you grow a selection that can tolerate summer rainfall humidity, and this is why I suggested 'Massachusetts' and 'Great Lakes'. If you attempted to grow Arctostaphylos uva-ursi 'San Bruno' (from the Central CA coast) in NC, it would contract root rot and die. And not just because of your climate, but also because it is adapted to utilizing mychorrizal fungi that are not present in your soil. (The forms of A. uva-ursi that grow in the eastern half of the country do not form strong associations with these symbiotic fungi.) I am not sure why A. uva-ursi does not naturally grow south of Virginia, but that doesn't mean that it won't grow in North Carolina. (I grow eight different types of manzanita in my yard in Oregon, and seven of them are from 500 miles south or further in California.) The climates of VA and NC are similar. Unless there's a significant difference in the soil, my guess is that you could grow it. Heat would not likely be a problem, as manzanitas tend to thrive in it. Humidity and soil moisture would be your limiting factors. If you use a selection from the eastern half of the country and can give it hot afternoon sun and no irrigation, I think it'd be worth a try.

Ummm....I suppose it's just possible that it's some variant of prostrate abelia with pink flowers, but this isn't a nursery that tends to have anything unusual, and they had a lot of it for quite awhile. I do know that I always pass on abelia in the nursery! The leaves are neither dark nor glossy. They are somewhat darker than what you see here, however. I can't remember how the flowers look, except that they're small, pink and very visible. There's no orange throat. They also don't have all that extra "stuff" I see around pictures of abelia bloom. It has a low growing, arching habit. It used to sit in an ornamental pot on my 2nd story porch railing. It arched out and down. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the new growth *is* bronzy. I know that some of the leaves turn dark red in the fall. I'll go look at it again if it ever stops raining. I'm frustated that it isn't something straightforward. We're putting in a shrubby groundcover, and I wanted to convince my husband to use this instead of bearberry, because the bloom is more noticeable.

I've seen it in specialist nurseries and I know that Woodbank had it before they retired. I have seeds of A. nevadensis awaiting clearance at AQIS - they've been there nearly 6 months!!!