Mayflower

6" tall x 3-6" wide. This is the famous state flower of Massachusetts, but it is native to most of the East from Canada all the way to North Florida, and loved by all woodland wildgardeners. Also called Mayflower after the famous Pilgrim ship, this sweet-scented, pastel pink beauty blooms along running stems of shiny evergreen leaves, creating the ultimate groundcover for woodland gardens. Creeping stems grow to about 16, and the when content, the plant forms lush clumps, which are a spectacle on the forest floor in spring. This wildflower is not easy to grow or rapidly spreading, but when established, it is always the pride of any woodland garden. Needs acidic woodsy soil, so its best planted under pines or oaks.

Trailing Arbutus is credited with making a very dramatic impression on early settlers in North America, especially the famous Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, MA in 1620. Used to the exhausted fields and largely cut woodland areas of Europe, they were stunned by North Americas primeval forests, which created heavily wooded habitat, right down to the Atlantic beaches. In spring, these magnificent old growth forests burst into bloom with our now-famous host of Spring Woodland Wildflowers, unknown in Europe. The queen of all the spring woodland flowers, at least to the Pilgrims, was this lovely ground-running vine with its delicate shell-pink flowers. For this reason, the common name of Mayflower was given the newly discovered plant, and it will always hold an important place in American history.