Rabbiteye and northern highbush blueberries
After putting our dozen wedding present
blueberries in the ground last week, I was surprised to learn that they
are rabbiteye blueberries, which might be either a pro or a con.
Rabbiteye blueberries are on the edge of their hardiness region here in
zone 6, which might mean we'll lose fruits to late frosts. On the
other hand, internet reports suggest that rabbiteye blueberries are
easier to propagate and care for and are more vigorous than northern
highbush.
Meanwhile, I had already ordered three northern highbush blueberries
earlier in the year. Those three arrived this week and I hurried
to add them to the blueberry patch. The photo above shows the
root mass of one of the northern highbush blueberries --- looks good,
huh? I didn't take a photo, but the roots of the rabbiteye
blueberries were easily three times that size (and cost $2 less per
plant), bearing out the idea that if they can survive the frost, the
rabbiteye blueberries might have a heyday in our garden. After
all, we
are probably in zone 7 now, where rabbiteye blueberries are known
to thrive. With both southern and northern blueberries
established in our garden, we should be ready for anything the climate
has to throw at us.
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.