Planting, Growing, Pruning, And Harvesting Blueberries

There are four types of blueberries: highbush, lowbush, hybrid half-high, and rabbiteye.

The most commonly planted blueberry is the highbush. Most blueberry breeding has focused on this species, so there are many varieties that range widely in cold hardiness and fruit season, size, and flavor.

Blueberries are partially self-fertile, so you will harvest more and larger berries by planting two or more varieties together. Planting more than one variety can also extend the harvest season.

Highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum): A six-foot shrub hardy from Zone 4 to Zone 7.

• For withstanding cold winters, choose ‘Bluecrop’, ‘Blueray’, ‘Herbert’, ‘Jersey’, or ‘Meader’.
• For big berries, choose ‘Berkeley’, ‘Bluecrop’, ‘Blueray’, ‘Coville’, ‘Darrow’, or ‘Herbert’.
• For flavor, usually, the main reason for growing your own fruit, choose ‘Blueray’, ‘Darrow’, ‘Herbert’, ‘Ivanhoe’, ‘Pioneer’, ‘Stanley’, or ‘Wareham’.
• For something different, try ‘Pink Lemonade’, which produces bright pink blueberries!

Lowbush (Vaccinium angustifolium): For the coldest climates, lowbush varieties are your best bet, hardy from Zone 3 to Zone 7.

• These are the blueberries you find in cans on supermarket shelves. When fresh, the fruits are sweet and covered with a waxy bloom so thick that the berries appear sky blue or gray.
• The creeping plants, a foot or so high, are spread by underground stems, or rhizomes. They blanket the rocky upland soils of the Northeast and adjacent portions of Canada. Lowbush blueberries make a nice ornamental fruiting ground cover.
• Plants sold by nurseries are usually seedlings or unnamed wild plants rather than named varieties.

Half-High: Breeders have combined qualities of highbush and lowbush blueberries into hybrids known as half-high blueberries.

• The University of Minnesota introductions include ‘Northcountry’, a variety that grows 18 to 24 inches high and has excellent, mild-flavored, slightly aromatic sky-blue fruits; and ‘Northblue’, which grows 20 to 30 inches high and produces an abundance of nickel-size, dark-blue, somewhat tart fruits—just right for pies.
• ‘Northland’ is a half-high that grows 3 to 4 feet tall. From Michigan, it has relatively bland, average-quality fruit.

Blueberries for Southern Gardens (Zones 7–9):

• Rabbiteye (Vaccinium virgatum): Grown in the southeastern United States, rabbiteye varieties are extremely adaptable, productive, and pest-tolerant. They do, however, have a high degree of self-incompatibility and require two or more varieties to be planted together to ensure pollination. Recommended varieties include ‘Powderblue’, ‘Woodard’, and ‘Brightwell’.
• Southern Highbush (hybrids of V. virgatum, V. corymbosum, or V. darrowii): Southern highbush varieties tend to be pickier and harder to grow than rabbiteyes, but there are a few high-quality varieties that do well. Among these are ‘Emerald’, ‘Windsor’, and ‘Springhigh’.
• Read more about blueberries for southern gardens from the University of Florida: Blueberry Gardener’s Guide.