Blueberry Plant Variety for an Extended Harvest

Early

• Blueberry cultivars that ripen their fruit first include Duke, with firm, medium-blue berries; Earliblue, a high-yielding cultivar with light-blue berries in loose clusters; Nui, a New Zealand compact variety with very large berries; and Patriot with flavorful, medium-size, light-blue berries.

Mid

• Bridging the season between early and late varieties, commonly grown midseason varieties include Berkeley with large, light-blue, firm fruit; Bluecrop, a favorite commercial variety with high yields of medium-size berries; Blueray with large, sweet berries; and Reka from New Zealand with small, flavorful berries and high yields. Legacy, a Southern highbush variety, yields large quantities of medium-to-large berries with good flavor but may be too tender for Northern climates. Sunshine Blue, which is evergreen in mild climates, produces small, sweet berries on an attractive compact plant growing 3 feet tall and wide.

Late

• Late-ripening varieties extend the blueberry season into August and September. They include Chandler with very large, light-blue berries; Colville with large, firm, tart fruit and high yields; Darrow with medium-sized, light-blue berries; and Jersey, the original cultivated blueberry variety bred from the wild blueberry. It has small, medium-blue berries. While Elliot was considered the latest-ripening variety, a new release from Michigan State University, Aurora, now holds that title. Aurora produces high yields of large, dark-blue berries with a slightly tart taste.

Considerations

• Most blueberry plants grow about 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. If you have plenty of space in full sun, that's not a problem. You can fit more plants into a small space and increase your yield by planting dwarf or lowbush midseason varieties for cross-pollination. These include Top Hat, which grows to 18 inches; Northsky to 2 feet; or Northblue, which grows to 3 feet.