Creeping Oregon Grape vs Bilberry - TreeTime.ca

Creeping Oregon Grape vs Bilberry

Mahonia repens

Vaccinium myrtillus

CUSTOM GROW

CUSTOM GROW

Creeping Oregon Grape
Bilberry

Creeping Oregon Grape is an excellent ground cover plant with attractive, dark green, holly-like leaves. It maintains its leaves throughout winter, which turn mauve, rose, and rust-colored. Clusters of bright, yellow flowers develop into dark, blue-purple edible berries ideal for juice or wine.

Bilberry is a native perennial shrub valued for its small, blue-black berries that ripen in mid to late summer. The berries resemble blueberries but have a richer, more tart, and intense flavor. They have long been used for fresh eating, baking, and preserves, while also providing food for birds and mammals. In spring, its delicate pinkish flowers attract bees and other pollinators.

Growing low to the ground, Bilberry forms spreading colonies that create dense understory cover. This growth habit provides food and shelter for wildlife, and its foliage adds seasonal interest by turning red to purple in autumn. With its adaptability and ecological benefits, Bilberry is well-suited for naturalization, ecological restoration, and pollinator gardens.

Creeping Oregon Grape Quick Facts

Bilberry Quick Facts

Zone: 5a
Zone: 3a
Height: 0.3 m (1.0 ft)
Height: 0.3 m (1.0 ft)
Spread: 0.5 m (1.5 ft)
Spread: 0.5 m (1.5 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: dry, normal
Moisture: normal
Growth rate: slow
Growth rate: slow
Life span: long
Life span: medium
Growth form: low growing, clump-forming
Spreading: rhizomes - medium, seeds - medium
Suckering: medium
Maintenance: medium


Toxicity: leaves may be unsafe in high doses
Fall colour: purple and bronze
Flowers: yellow
Flowers: white or pink, bell-shaped
Bloom time: summer
Fruit: large blue/purple
Berries: round bluish-purple berries, edible
Flavor: sweet
Harvest: late summer to early fall
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC
Native to: AB, BC
Other Names: ash barberry, creeping barberry, creeping holly grape, creeping mahonia, creeping oregon-grape, creeping western barberry, holly grape, mountain holly, oregon barberry
Other Names: common bilberry, dwarf bilberry, low bilberry, myrtille, myrtle blueberry, myrtle whortleberry, whortleberry