Shrubs🌿 Native to the NetherlandsVery hardy — tolerates frost down to -25°C

Small cranberry

Name: Small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos)
Brand: HSMN Planten
SKU: 6a5f7e5f2e75dcc503d8bb5f
Price: 5.95 EUR
Availability: BackOrder

Vaccinium oxycoccos

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Small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) is a native, evergreen dwarf shrub of wet, acidic, and nutrient-poor peat soils. The plant grows with thin, creeping stems among peat moss, forming low mats in raised bogs, wet heaths, moorland pools, peat moss vegetations, and silting pool edges. In May and June, Small cranberry blooms with small pink flowers featuring strongly recurved petals. After flowering, red, spherical to slightly pear-shaped berries develop. The species is suitable for acidic peat gardens, wet heath gardens, pool margins, marsh edges, and nutrient-poor naturalistic gardens. Small cranberry is not an easy garden plant: the soil must be acidic, nutrient-poor, and permanently moist to wet. Lime, fertilization, and drying out are poorly tolerated.

Specific care needed

Small cranberry is a true raised bog plant and grows most reliably in a separate, acidic peat bed or a water-retaining planter. Use an unfertilized, lime-free, and very nutrient-poor marsh plant mix, for example, a suitable peat-free bog or carnivorous plant mix with peat moss and washed lime-free quartz sand. Standard potting soil and fertilized heath soil are too nutrient-rich. Keep the substrate constantly wet to very moist; it must never dry out completely, though the plant does not need to be submerged. Provide only rainwater or other lime-poor water. Do not add compost, manure, or plant food. A layer of living or dried peat moss helps keep the root zone cool, acidic, and evenly moist.

Year calendar

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
🌸Blooms
🐝Provides nectar
🍓Bears fruit
🍂Has autumn colour

Pruning period

✂️Best pruning period: Mar–Apr

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
✂️ Pruning period

Best pruning period

Small cranberry requires virtually no pruning. Simply remove old, damaged, or dried-out stems in early spring. More important than pruning is maintaining a permanently acidic, nutrient-poor, and moist to wet soil.

Botanical profile

Site & soil

Sun, Half shade

Soil type: Peat, Loam, Sand

Moisture need: Wet / marshy, Moist

pH: Acidic (<5.5), Slightly acidic (5.5–6.5)

Nutrient richness: Very nutrient-poor, Nutrient-poor

Humus content: Moderately humus-rich, Peaty, Humus-rich

Water drainage: Moisture-retentive, Poorly draining

Appearance & season

Mature height: 10-60 cm

Bloom: May-Jul

Autumn colour: No striking autumn color. Small cranberry is evergreen and retains its small, leathery leaves on creeping stems throughout the year.

Properties

Salt sensitive: No

Edible: The ripe red berries are edible. They have a fresh, sharp, and slightly tart taste, similar to a small cranberry, and are suitable for compote, jam, jelly, juice, sauce, or as an accompaniment to game dishes.

Scent: The flowers do not have a strong or noticeable scent. Small cranberry attracts flower visitors primarily through its pink flowers, nectar, and pollen.

Ecological value

Small cranberry is valuable as a characteristic species of raised bogs, wet heaths, and peat moss vegetations. The pink flowers provide nectar and pollen for small bees, bumblebees, and other flower visitors. The low, creeping growth provides shelter for small insects, spiders, and soil organisms among the peat moss. The red berries are edible and can also be utilized by birds and small animals. Its greatest natural value lies in its association with wet, acidic, and nutrient-poor peat environments. Small cranberry contributes to flowering, berries, evergreen structure, and biodiversity in fragile heath and bog vegetation.

Food web & Biodiversity

🐛 Caterpillars & mothsVery useful

🐝 Bees & bumblebeesUseful

🪰 HoverfliesUseful

🦋 ButterfliesUseful

🪲 Beetles & insectsUseful

🐦 BirdsVery useful

🐿️ MammalsUseful

🐞 Other animalsUseful

Small cranberry is primarily suited for acidic, wet, and nutrient-poor locations. Do not use lime-rich soil, standard potting soil with high nutrient levels, or fertilizer; the plant belongs in a peat moss-like, moist soil.

Distribution in the Netherlands