Picture this: It's a sunny summer morning and as you prepare your breakfast, you step outside to this Highbush Blueberry plant and collect a handful of fat, ripe, warm berries to sprinkle on your cereal. Delicious! These flavorful fruits don't usually crack when ripe even though they are extra large compared to other blueberry selections. If you can keep from gobbling them all, save some to freeze and enjoy in the winter months ahead. Just be sure to gather them before the songbirds! For the best berry yield, plant two Highbush Blueberries for good cross-pollination. And even if this bushy shrub lacked edible berries, its bell-shaped white flowers in spring and brilliant red fall foliage make it well worth adding to your garden landscape.
Conditions: Full sun to part shade; moist to wet soil; prefers slightly acidic conditions
Size: 4'-6' tall, 5'-8' wide
Zone: 4 - 8
Wildlife Value: Flowers are an early nectar source for bees, butterflies and other pollinators; fruit utilized by birds, small mammals, and box turtles; larval host for several butterfly species, including Red Spotted Purple, Spring Azure, and Brown Elfin Skipper
Photo: Katja Schulz