For pancakes and landscapes - blueberries

Sunset, July, 1994 by Jim McCausland

Blueberries are easy to grow--if you pick the right plants for your climate and get them off to a good start

LAST SUMMER WE phoned a nursery to ask whether they had any blueberry plants laden with fruit. "Yes," the manager answered, "if our employees haven't eaten them all." That's the thing about blueberries: it's well-nigh impossible to pass by without plucking some, since you don't have to peel or seed them before popping a few into your mouth.

In addition to producing delicious fruit, blueberry plants excel in the landscape, adapting successfully to both shade and sun, and producing colorful fall foliage.

Breeders and nurseries have done remarkable things with blueberries in recent years. Now there are varieties for most Western climates, with plants ranging in habit from ground covers to tall shrubs, and fruits that run from pea to cherry size.

Though most of the blueberries mentioned here are self-pollinating, they bear most heavily when other varieties are nearby for cross-pollination. Plants grown in sun have more compact growth and yield bigger crops.

PICK THE RIGHT PLANTS

Western Oregon and Washington. This is prime blueberry country, so you can succeed with almost any variety that's sold. When most people think of blueberries, they envision northern highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum) varieties, since that's the kind you usually find at the supermarket. Unless otherwise noted, the following are northern highbush varieties.

Full-size blueberry shrubs give the most fruit. Choose a mix of early, midseason, and late varieties. Three good choices would be 'Spartan' (early), 'Olympia' (midseason), and 'Jersey' (its small, late berries are the perfect size for pancakes and muffins). 'Elliott' is another strong late-season variety, bearing tart, tasty berries from late summer to first frost.

For extra-large berries, try 'Darrow', a plant that grows well but can't handle extreme cold. Each of its tangy berries is the size of a 50-cent piece. If you can't find 'Darrow' (growers have a hard time starting it), try 'Toro', a new large blueberry with outstanding flavor. Its large, grapelike fruit clusters grow among huge leaves that turn brilliant red in fall.

Good choices for small, non-highbush border or container plants include 'North Country', 'Northsky', 'Top Hat', and 'Northblue', all of which top out at 1 1/2 to 3 feet tall.

For an ornamental ground cover, consider V. crassifolium 'Wells Delight', a flat, spreading evergreen that produces just enough fruit to keep your garden's birds happy, or the wild lowbush blueberry, V. angustifolium.

Southern highbush blueberries (see page 58) also work well in the coastal Northwest.

East of the Cascades and the Sierra. You can grow most northern highbush blueberries in most gardens in the intermountain West. But if you have to contend with much heat or extreme cold in your garden, you'll have to choose varieties carefully.

In the coldest, snowiest areas, try 'Northsky', 'North Country', 'Northblue', or 'Northland' (up to 4 feet tall). Though 'Northland' has a spreading form, its pliable branches shed snow well. 'Patriot' is another good choice, since it can also grow in poorly drained soil.

Where summer heat is a problem, try 'Bluecrop', 'Bluejay', 'Blueray', 'Jersey', or 'Northland'. With the exception of 'Northland', these all become full-size blueberry bushes; expect them to grow about as tall as you.

Northern California. There are northern highbush blueberry farms in the Sacramento Valley, so it's no surprise that you can succeed with them in your garden if you choose the right varieties ('Bluecrop', 'Blueray', and 'Bluetta', for example) and supply enough peat to maintain soil acidity.

Another option is to plant one of the promising new southern highbush blueberries. These combine the superior flavor of northern highbush berries, the soil adaptability of V. darrowi, and the heat-tolerance and low-winter-chill requirements of rabbiteyes (V. ashei). The result is an excellent blueberry you can grow from Canada to Mexico.

'O'Neal' is a very early, very sweet berry that may just be the best of the southern highbush. Others to try are 'Cape Fear' and 'Georgia Gem'. All these plants reach 4 to 6 feet tall at maturity.

'Sierra' is a new northern highbush cross with some southern highbush blood. It grows very fast to 6 feet (consider using it as a hedge), and produces quarter-size berries. It hasn't been grown long enough in California to have much of a track record.

GIVE PLANTS THE RIGHT START

Many nurseries sell a variety of blueberries in pulp pots this month. Cut off the pulp before you set out plants.

When you buy, nursery workers will probably try to sell you peat moss as well. "The rule of thumb," says one nurseryman, "is to sell a bag of peat for every blueberry bush that goes out the door." Why the peat? Blueberries like slightly acid soil--a pH of 5.5 is about right--that holds water well, and peat acidifies soil and improves its water-holding capacity.

Dig a hole as deep as the plant's rootball and five times as wide. Amend the backfill soil with 50 percent peat, set the plant in the hole, fill in with the amended soil, and mulch well around the plant.