Blueberry - Sunshine Blue (Mid-Late Harvest)

Vaccinium hybrid, The Southern Patio Blueberry

• Zones: 5-10
• Plant Age: 1.5 years
• Chill Hours: 150
• Harvest: Mid to late season.
• Bush Habit: Upright, compact bush reaching 3' tall, with blue-green and burgundy foliage in fall.
• Fruit: Medium, rich, sweet flavored berries.
• Facts of note: For gardens from San Diego to Seattle, Sunshine Blue is a Southern Highbush that has it all. This semi-dwarf, versatile evergreen blueberry features showy hot pink flowers that fade to white in spring, yielding large crops of delicious berries. Sunshine Blue tolerates higher pH soils better than many other blueberries and it is self-pollinizing but will produce a bigger crop if another blueberry variety is planted nearby. The low chilling requirement of 150 hours makes it suitable for Southern California, but we find it is surprisingly cold-hardy and a wonderful addition to patios and gardens in the Pacific Northwest.

Delicious, exceptionally nutritious, high in bioflavanoids. Consider climate suitability, ripening season and fruit size when selecting varieties and include at least two different varieties for cross–pollination and fruiting (any two varieties will do, regardless of ripening time). Grow in acidic, well–drained soil. Cottonseed meal is an excellent fertilizer for blueberries along with good quality compost and peat moss.

Check out our Fruit Harvest Chart to plan for successive harvests.