PlantFiles: Ground Laurel, Mayflower, Trailing Arbutus
Epigaea repens

This plant is difficult to transplant from the wild. In 2005 I was given a small piece of Epigaea repens, which I planted in peaty soil in a shady spot in my Bar Harbor garden.
I would like very much to find a nursery where I could purchase more plants, possibly in better health than the one given to me.

Difficult to transplant as the roots are tempermental. There is a cultivar that has double flowers, too. It's named "Plena"

This plant seems to like acidic soil, grows near pine trees in places that have moss growing in the vicinity. They don't really raise up from the ground but just crawl along it. The flowers are definitely more pink than white, but do shade to white toward the centers. As they age, they seem to get more pale. The fragrance of the flowers is heavenly.
They are supposedly very difficult to grow. These were found at our camp in central Pennsylvania, where they are quite plentiful.

This is a woody,low growing and evergreen shrub that creeps along the ground. It doesn't get but about 2 inches tall. The stems are hairy.The leaves are alternate,rough and leathery and the underside is hairy. The flowers are very fragrant and pinkish white.The fruit is a five sided,berry like capsule that splits showing tiny seeds in a white pulp.This is one of the earliest spring wildflowers to bloom.Usually found in sandy or rocky woods especially with acid soil.

This name(Mayflower)is said to date back to the Pilgrims, who found it plentiful around Plymouth,Massachusetts,and the first bloom to assure them that their first terrible winter was over. John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem,"The Mayflowers," that captures the timeless lure of this wildflower. As the name of the ship that brought them to America, "Mayflower" evoked fond memories for the Pilgrims.