Oregon grape's waxy, holly-shaped leaves; edible, blue berries; and low growth make the shrub a popular ornamental in Pacific Coast states.
Oregon Grape Root Extract is available from Advanced Nutrition, (opposite the Queen's Head Hotel), Morpeth and Healthichoice, 32 Bow Street, Blyth.
Mahonia aquifolium (
Oregon Grape) types are much later flowering, not producing their displays until late winter.
The lean planting scheme includes Hall's honeysuckle, a Japanese maple, and
Oregon grape. The pond is fringed with sweet alyssum, Vinca minor, and woolly thyme.
They are scented of freshly-baked cakes and will change in to dark blue berries, hence the common name
Oregon Grape.
Whole understory communities-sword ferns, sphagnum moss, salmonberry, salal, spike moss, huckleberry,
Oregon grape, and young conifers-cover every square foot of ground.
Sales of
Oregon grape wines rose 14% last year, according to the Oregon Agricultural Statistics Service.
Beargrass, for example, could be used to create white patterns or dyed yellow by using lichen or
Oregon grape. Maidenhair fern stems were good for glossy black sections of a basket.
Oregon Grape Root Extract is available from AdvancedNutrition, Bridge Street, 14 Sandersons Arcade, Morpeth, Northumberland, (opposite the Queens Head Hotel).
The usual treatment is with antibiotics, but herbs that contain berberine, such as
Oregon grape and barberry, can inhibit the bacteria.
(Thanks to Stan Gran, Progressive Viticulture Inc.; Ed Hell-man, Texas A & M University; Stirling Fox,
Oregon Grape Management Inc.
For more lasting effects there's
Oregon grape or Mahonia aquifolium Atropurpureum, an evergreen shrub whose bright green leaves turn red-purple.