Salal

Gaultheria shallon

tree

Salal (Gaultheria shallon) is the glossy, leathery-leaved evergreen shrub that carpets the floor of Pacific Northwest forests, 1 to 5 ft tall (taller in deep shade), spreading by rhizomes into dense, handsome thickets. It bears urn-shaped pinkish flowers and then edible blue-black berries that were a major traditional food, dried into cakes by coastal peoples; the thick, durable leaves are also harvested in quantity for the florist trade. Heavily shade-tolerant and content in cool, moist, acid woodland soil, it is grown for its berries and foliage and as a tough, evergreen groundcover for difficult shady, acid sites. It can be slow to establish but then spreads steadily.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Oregon Grape: A fellow shade-tolerant Northwest native shrub for the same acid woodland floor
• Fern: A natural forest-floor companion for the cool, damp, shaded ground
• Western Red Cedar: The classic overstory conifer salal grows beneath in its native range

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts. Tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• No serious pests

  Salal has no significant insect or disease problems in suitable cool, moist, acid sites

• Leaf spot →

  Minor fungal spotting in stagnant damp shade; ensure some airflow

• Establishment sulking

  Not a pest but common - keep new plants moist and patient through the first year before they spread

🌾 Harvest & storage

Pick the blue-black berries in summer when fully ripe and soft; they are sweet but seedy and a little hairy, eaten fresh or, traditionally, mashed and dried into fruit cakes for storage, or made into jam. Harvest the thick, glossy leaves any time for arrangements or drying. Both berries and leaves come from the same easy, spreading plant, so a established patch supplies plenty without harm. Use or dry the berries promptly, as they do not keep long fresh.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Salal berries are sweet and edible, eaten fresh or cooked into jam and traditionally mashed and dried into storable fruit cakes by Northwest coastal peoples - a significant wild food. The leathery evergreen leaves are gathered in quantity for the florist trade. As a plant, salal is a top-tier evergreen groundcover for deep shade and acid soil, knitting difficult woodland ground into a glossy green carpet.