I have grafted all my apples and ordered my grapes, time to move on to figuring out the blueberries. 
I have several common larger types for the back yard. Bluecrop, Duke, Chandler, Elliott. The front yard by patio, I want dwarf types. Some red foliage in autumn, some good fruit in summer, nothing too tall to compete with other plants, entryway, and views. Under 3 ft, we are on the edge of zone 6B/7A, Sunset 32/34. I would tend toward maybe the warmer zone, as this is the south side close to the house. Morning sun, evening shade.
Can anyone tell me about their dwarf blueberries? I know itās kind of silly to ask about opinions here, we all have them. I am thinking of Tophat, Brunswick, Burgundy, Northcountry, Northsky. Where do you buy them, what did you like? I see some of those still for sale this spring, some sold out as far as I can find, some others new for 2021.
Not to hijack your thread, but I have a few āberried treasureā box huckleberry (an evergreen native to Z6 PA) on the way from Burnt Ridge for a similar purpose. There is also an evergreen Himalayan huckleberry that appears to be similar. I just wanted something that looks nice all year and still makes fruit.
I havenāt tried it yet but the pink lemonade blueberries seem like a cool focal point as well, and I bet nothing would eat them before being ripe. They appear to be in the 3-4 ft mature height range.
Iāve never tasted the box huckleberry, otherwise it sounded like an option. Known fruit and plant habit gets past the front yard limitation I was given. The āPink Lemonadeā blueberry tastes good, but is a little high for the area. Might be OK once I get the other areas cleared- it depends on how many currants I can get to survive, and if I am allowed to rip out spirea bushes.
I got āmini bluesā at a local nursery this year. canāt recommend it yet, mine is very small, wonāt know for a few years
as far as your requirements, it might grow too tall. it was interesting to be because itās new from my local land grant
Mini Blues reminds me of Northland. Developed by MSU to capture the low bush flavor in a productive high bush. Berries are small to medium. I guess it has a market because it is an old cultivar and still here. I bought one last year. Developed to grow here so it makes sense to try it. Even so the market for low bush blueberries is strong. Nothing will ever replace them. Since the plants are small and you need a lot for decent production itās not a good choice for the home market. All the same some want to grow them so the home market is strong as the commercial. People want to grow them dispite production. I myself would like to try huckleberries. Many types to choose from. I donāt know all that much about them?
i have northsky and brunswick. both have tasty small berries and deep red fall color. northsky is a little bigger and bigger berries but still under 3ft. in your zone it might be best to go the huckleberry route. never tasted them before but supposedly similar to blueberries.
I looked again and I was mistaken about mini blues, it grows to 4-6ft like a lot of northern highbush. itās only the berries that are small. yes it sounds like it has some similarities with northland
Yeah, I looked at MiniBlues last night. It would do for the little berries we want tor breakfast and baking, but a tall bush. Might do later, elsewhere.
my brunswicks are only 6-10in. and northsky is about 16in.
If you like it, let us know!
I want to grow these one day, I have to find room. I would like to add huckleberries too. I hate when Iām so limited in space. Out of all my fruit my blueberries are gone very quickly! Last year was great. I had a very good yield. I pruned some hard so I wonāt get as many this year.
Iām going to add a couple more in the next couple years.
in our states its a no brainer to grow blueberries yet i only have 3 high, 2 med. and 4 lowbush. problem is the wife and i like honeyberries even more and they are no spray where as blues can be but occasionally need sprayed. also have issues in high snow years, the branches get ripped off the blues, whereas honeyberries are unscathed. so im reluctant to add more. might add box huckleberry. only z5 hardy but under the snow they should be protected thru the worst months.
Iām a fan of honeyberries too. I had 11 blueberry plants. I lost one, so down to 10. I also have 10 honeyberry plants, 4 are young and in a challenging environment. at my cottage. I have yet to go up and look at them. Hopefully they are OK. The 6 here are bigger and I moved 4 of them from pots to in ground.
They were not happy and look to have lost some stems. So production also will be low this year. Next year should be a good year for honeyberries once my 4 newly transplanted plants establish in ground.
I have Sunshine Blue, which only gets 3ā tall. It is a really attractive little plant. I only got it last year, so havenāt tried the berries yet, but it does seem to be setting a lot on.
The other dwarf blueberry I have is Peach Sorbet, which is one of the Bushel and Berry trademarked series of dwarf berries. (The Bushel and Berry series also includes dwarf raspberries and blackberries.) I have had the Peach Sorbet for even less time than the Sunshine Blue, so havenāt tried the berries from it either. There are also other blueberries in the series. I chose Peach Sorbet because I needed one with a low chill requirement. The Collection ā Bushel and BerryĀ®
I have blueberry glaze and peach sorbet from that collection and they are both great. Small bushes, attractive and delicious.
Peach sorbet is a larger berry with a good level of sweetness.
Blueberry glaze is a very small, almost black berry with intense wild blueberry flavor.
The Bushel&Berry varieties sound good, but I havenāt seen them here. Well, I did see several of their blackberries at Tractor Supply, but all the plants were picked over and mostly gone by late March. I would not get much there, but would risk the berry plants when they first arrived. More expensive varieties, at least where I can find them online.
Sunshine Blue is one from my list, too.
@franc1969 Iāve grown Perpetua (a Bushel & Berry variety) for a couple years and it has almost zero flavor and the berries are small, so I canāt recommend it at all unfortunately. I increased the pot size and improved the growing medium this year, and Iām planning to prune it hard next year, just to give it one last chance to show me if it can produce a tastier berry.
Iām growing 30+ other varieties, several of which Iāve tried and are better than Perpetua:
- Earliblue, Sweetheart, Reka, and Chandler have a nice flavor
- Duke has a great texture but a mild flavor
- I have high hopes for Caraās Choice and Ka-Bluey based on @Drew51ās experience
Iāll have more to report next year when Iām trying many for the first time.
I potted a Bushel and Berry Jelly Bean dwarf blueberry bush this spring in an old cattle mineral tub. It produced 1 blueberry and my daughters shared it and loved it. It put on a little growth this year. So hopefully next year we will get more berries!
My pink lemonade is touching the 7+ ft lengthā¦
My pink popcorn though, 3-4 ft at 8 years old. Pink popcorn is short and stubby but pink lemonade is TALLLLL
Mine seems to be struggling compared to other dwarf varieties I have. That said I didnāt provide ideal conditions or care this year.
@Melon Thatāll be fun to prune next year - the Pink Lemonade really shot out a lot of canes. What size container is that in?