Aggressive once established, they typically grow rapidly to an average height of 1.5 meters or 5-6 feet in ideal conditions, and occasionally can reach 10 feet in height. Salal attracts wildlife, butterflies and bees for its waxy, pollen laden flowers, and birds and bears later in the summer when the heavy, purple-black berries ripen. The berries have been used for thousands of years by native North Americans, Today, many people still make jelly with the somewhat bland fruit. Salal, classed as a rhizomatous plant, spreads by suckers. The preferred method of propagation is by seed.
Fresh seed is required as germination rates decline quickly.
The shrub makes an attractive, decorative shrub, not just for its glossy everygreen foliage, but for the shape of its foliage. The shrub needs no pruning, except that which might be desired for aesthetic reasons to suit a particular garden design scheme, or to remove dead wood. Prune in April. Salal berries usually ripen in August. Copyright 1998-2001, all rights reserved worldwide.