Re: Blueberries for Zone 4b--Wisconsin

[Ginda Fisher <ginda@concentric.net>]

> ________________________________________________________________________
> 
> Message: 10
>    Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 14:51:18 -0500
>    From: "Doreen Howard" <doreenh@ticon.net>
> Subject:	Blueberries for Zone 4b--Wisconsin
> 
> I recently moved from Zone 5b in Illinois to Wisconsin (4b) and want to
> plant an edible landscape again.  For those of you who know me and think
> I've moved a lot lately--you are right. Since July 1998, I've gone from the
> Gulf Coast of Texas (Zone 9b) to Springfield, IL and now to Wisconsin.
> Blame it on my husband's escalating career and my patience, which is about
> to wear thin.
> 
> I had Maine Wild, North Blue and Chippewa blueberries in Illinois.  Today, I
> was told by the local garden center that I should stay with the North
> series--Northblue, Northland, etc.  Is this good advice?  I already bought
> one plant each of the two named varieties above, but I want to add another
> 3-5 bushes to the row I'll be planting next to the garden shed.
> 
> Any and all advice is appreciated.  I've learned volumes from you all.
> Doreen Howard
> Janesville, WI (Zone 4b or 5a some years according to the locals)
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________

I haven't grown them anywhere colder than zone 6, but most of the
half-high blueberries (including Chippewa and Northblue) are supposed to
be hardy in zone 4, and even in zone 3 with snow cover.  I have picked
wild lowbush blueberries on exposed rocky mountain tops in New
Hampshire, where they seem to grow very happily.  The mountains are in
zone 4 on the map, and given the view, the microclimate couldn't be too
much milder.  This is the same species as "Maine wild blueberries",
although there may be local variation in hardiness among populations. 
Perhaps the only hardy blueberries your local garden center carries are
in the North series?

One advantage of taller bushes is that you get less rabbit damage.

Ginda Fisher
Eastern Mass., zone 6