Salal – Gaultheria shallon

Common Name: Salal, Lemonleaf

Botanical Name: Gaultheria shallon, gawl-THEER-ee-a sha-LON

Decorative Life: Up to 21 days.

Availability: Year Round

Generally harvested in branch lengths from 18-30 inches long. While these grow in the wild, applying 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre can increase production by 50 to 150 bunches per acre. This is a win-win situation, especially for the pickers who are generally paid by the number of bunches they harvest.

32-41F, up to 10 days.

• Named after Dr. Gaulthier (1708-1758), a physician and botanist in Quebec.
• First harvested for the floral industry in the late 1940s but took about 15 years to become an industry favorite, replacing red huckleberry as the number one florist greenery from the Northwest.
• Typical areas of good growth are under timber stands that provide about 50% light. They often respond quickly to new openings created by building roads and/or timber harvesting.