Anyone had success with Gaultheria procumbens (aka Wintergreen or Checkerberry)? I've had a terrible time getting it to survive and have lost 3 of the 4 little shrubs I planted in the spring. I know it prefers acidic soil, but does anyone know if it is sensitive enough to dislike a 7.0pH (my soil, when tested in Jan.)? The plants seem to lose branches at a time (they go brown and crisp up) even though other branches are green and putting out berries. I also noticed that their roots are really, really shallow -- I was pulling a few weeds the other day and one of the winterberries just popped up with the weed, right out of the soil! It had been one that was starting to grow a few berries, so it wasn't dead yet, but certainly didn't have a lot of root mass.

I'm starting to think that another kind of ground cover might work better for me. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I don't think watering is an issue, as the rest of the gardens are doing really well with regular watering.