Fresh berry picking season is here! Grow your own blueberries & raspberries with these easy-to-grow fruit shrubs. With their multi-season interest, these shrubs will make an excellent addition to any vegetable or landscape garden.
BLUEBERRIES
Northblue Blueberry
Vaccinium ‘Northblue’
Height: 2 Feet
Spread: 3 Feet
Sunlight: Full Sun to Part-Shade
Hardiness Zone: 3a
Description:
A very hardy hybrid blueberry for full-sun to part-shade with an upright open habit. This berry shrub produces a bumper crop of tasty, sweet, & juicy blueberry fruit in mid-summer. Plant in acidic soils (pH of 4 to 5) with excellent drainage & peat moss, with a thick top layer of mulch. The Northblue Blueberry is an excellent multi-seasonal shrub featuring rich green & glossy foliage in spring; delicious berries June to July; & vibrant orange fall color.
Plant more than one blueberry variety for best cross-pollination.
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Chippewa Blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum x augustifolium ‘Chippewa’
Height: 3 feet
Spread: 4 feet
Sunlight: Full Sun to Part-Shade
Hardiness Zone: 3b
Description:
A very cold-hardy hybrid blueberry with a compact habit and good fall color. Produces huge crops of large, sweet, dark blue fruit Mid-summer. Plant in acidic soils (pH of 4 to 5) with excellent drainage & peat moss, with a thick top layer of mulch. For an extended picking season, combine Chippewa Blueberry with Northblue Blueberry, as the Chippewa Blueberry ripens a week earlier. This berry shrub is an excellent multi-season shrub with glossy green foliage in spring, juicy berries mid-summer, and brilliant red color in fall.
Plant more than one Blueberry variety for best cross-pollination.
RASPBERRIES
Boyne Raspberry
Rubus ‘Boyne’
Height: 4 to 6 Feet
Spread: 3 to 4 Feet
Sunlight: Full Sun to Part-Shade
Hardiness Zone: 3a
Description:
This is a very hardy, heavy-bearing, & disease-resistant raspberry shrub. Produces a large crop of huge, juicy, sweet red raspberries. Mid-season fruit, usually ripens in July. Great for canning, fresh eating, desserts, jams & jellies.
Self-pollinating variety
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Caroline Raspberry
Rubus ‘Caroline’
Height: 3 to 4 Feet
Spread: 3 to 4 Feet
Sunlight: Full Sun to Part-Shade
Hardiness Zone: 3a
Description:
This hardy, disease-resistant raspberry shrub produces large, red berries. Considered a fall-bearing raspberry; plant with Boyne raspberries to extend your picking season. Excellent variety for fresh eating, desserts, jams & jellies.
Self-pollinating variety