PlantFiles: Lowbush Blueberry, Wild Blueberry
Vaccinium angustifolium

The information I have in front of me in the Nov/Dec 2007 issue of Garden Gate magazine indicates that the Cold Hardy zone is 2 to 8 and the Heat tolerant zone is 8 to 1. I can't say as I've seen any around here, but would love to try them out and since I am in zone 8a I am hoping to make them successful.

These lowbush blueberries do grow wild in the southern area of north carolina {zone 7b-8} in areas where clay soil isn't as common. I couldn't believe it myself.. But if you go to badin lake, there is a wooded area by the train tracks where you'll find both low-bush and high-bush blueberries. The low-bush taste pretty good. But, I notices that they do not fruit much. There are also blueberries called sparkleberries that fruity later. I haven't tried them yet to see how they taste. Lowbush seem to be difficult to transplant.

I am ALMOST certain the plant growing wild in the oak-pine forest of rural Lexington County, SC, is a wild blueberry. The fruit is delicious and a reddish-purple color. The foliage is silvery-green in color and has a silver gleam at night when a car's headlight's shine on it. It is amazingly prolific and tends to ripen before the wild Muscadine (purple) grapes of this same area. If you're interested in this plant, visit the sand hills/inner coastal plain of SC!

DELICIOUS!!! A treasure to find along the road side. I spent much of my summer days as a child picking these berries in the Catskills. However, their fruit bearing reflects the amount of rain they recieve. Which meant that this year, there was pretty much no berries.

Blueberries are an excellent landscaping plant, providing the gardener with fairly disease-resistant, trouble-free fruit. Lowbush or wild blueberries are much smaller than their highbush and rabbiteye cousins, and are less likely to be found in a cultivated setting. However, their low stature can lend itself to creating an attractive groundcover with dainty flowers followed by fruit, and foliage that changes to fiery red in the fall.

Blueberries do require an acidic soil, typically 5.5 pH or lower, and can take three to five years to begin bearing sizeable quantities of fruit. Protect ripening fruit from hungry birds with netting.

Lowbush fruit is relatively small (about 1/4" in diameter), and very sweet. Like the other varieties, it should be picked when ripe, and if preparing for freezing, do not wash off its waxy blush, but instead spread the unwashed fruit in a single layer, pick over carefully, then freeze. When frozen, place in a ziplock or airtight container and return to freezer. When ready to use, pour out what the amount you need, rinse, then add to the recipe.

This little blueberry is much appreciated by people who know it. This plant makes good ground cover in acid soils. It will grow in the woods (like the one in this photo) or in sunny fields. The foliage turns a nice scarlet in the fall with red twigs all winter. The white flowers in spring are followed by the dark blueand
to black fruit.