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Highbush Blueberry

Vaccinium corymbosum

Highbush blueberry is the wild parent of nearly every cultivated blueberry, and the species itself bears the same fruit at a smaller size and often better flavor. It insists on genuinely acidic soil, pH 4.5 to 5.5, and its shallow roots resent drought and standing water alike — most failures are a soil chemistry problem rather than a care problem, so test the bed before planting rather than after. Urn-shaped flowers hang in clusters in spring and are worked by bumblebees, which buzz-pollinate them far more effectively than honeybees can; two or more different plants set noticeably heavier crops than one alone. Fruit ripens over several weeks in summer and is best left on the bush to the last minute, since it will not sweeten after picking. It feeds a very large number of native caterpillar species, which is much of why a blueberry patch is full of nesting birds. Fall color is a clean scarlet and the young twigs stay red all winter.

Family

Ericaceae

Type

shrub

Lifespan

perennial

Height

6–12 ft

Spacing

8–12 ft apart

Light

sun, part shade, shade

Soil moisture

dry, moist, wet

Soil pH

acidic, neutral

Bloom

May, June

Bloom colors

white, pink

Wildlife value

pollinators, butterflies, songbirds, larval host

Caterpillar hosts

~294 butterfly & moth species

Landscape uses

rain garden

Native states

AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV