Creeping Oregon Grape vs Grouseberry - TreeTime.ca

Creeping Oregon Grape vs Grouseberry

Mahonia repens

Vaccinium scoparium

CUSTOM GROW

CUSTOM GROW

Creeping Oregon Grape
Grouseberry

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.

Grouseberry is a native, low-growing deciduous shrub known for its edible red berries. In early summer, it produces small, urn-shaped flowers ranging from white to pink that attract bees and other pollinators. The berries provide an important food source for many types of wildlife, including game birds such as grouse, which gives the plant its common name. People can also enjoy the berries fresh or in baked goods, though they can be difficult to harvest in large quantities.

Spreading by rhizomes, Grouseberry forms dense, broom-like mats that help stabilize soil and prevent erosion, while also providing cover for ground-nesting wildlife. It is commonly found beneath conifers in open forests, subalpine meadows, and occasionally on rocky slopes in mountainous regions. It is well-suited for naturalization, ecological restoration, and soil stabilization projects.

Creeping Oregon Grape Quick Facts

Grouseberry Quick Facts

Zone: 5a
Zone: 2a
Height: 0.3 m (1.0 ft)
Height: 0.3 m (1.0 ft)
Spread: 0.5 m (1.5 ft)
Spread: 0.3 m (1.0 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: shade, partial shade
Moisture: dry, normal
Moisture: normal
Growth rate: slow
Growth rate: slow
Life span: long
Life span: medium
Growth form: low growing, colony-forming
Spreading: rhizomes - medium
Suckering: medium
Maintenance: medium
Maintenance: medium


Fall colour: purple and bronze
Fall colour: reddish
Flowers: yellow
Flowers: small pink, bell-shaped
Bloom time: spring
Fruit: large blue/purple
Berries: small, bright red, edible
Flavor: tart
Harvest: summer
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: dwarf red whortleberry, grouse whortleberry, little-leaved huckleberry, red alpine blueberry, small-leaved huckleberry