Highbush Blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum
A native shrub with clusters of white spring flowers, delicious blueberries in summer and brilliant red fall colour, lovely as a hedge or in a wet spot, and birds adore the fruit. Plant two varieties for bigger crops. It needs strongly acid soil, or the leaves yellow; net the berries, and expect deer to browse it.
- Mature size
- 9 × 8 ft
- 2.7 × 2.4 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 3a–7b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Dry to wet
- Blooms
- Apr–May
- Fall color Oct–Nov
Highbush Blueberry at its mature size
A mature Highbush Blueberry grows 6 to 12 feet tall and 6 to 10 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Through the year
What Highbush Blueberry looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Mar
Bare reddish twiggy stems.
In flower · Apr–May
White urn-shaped flower clusters among new leaves.
Fruit · Jun–Aug
Blue-green leaves with clusters of ripe blue berries.
In leaf · Sep
Blue-green leaves, berries gone.
Fall · Oct–Nov
Brilliant scarlet fall colour.
Photos
Growing Highbush Blueberry
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Hedge, drought tolerant, rain garden, pollinators, and fall color
- Leaves
- Drops its leaves in winter
- Native to
- Eastern North America
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Highbush Blueberry, that’s about 8 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Highbush Blueberry in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.