Anticipating Early Blueberries

Spring has arrived, along with several generous rains, and the ground exploded into a luxurious blanket of green! I love this time of year…don’t you? There’s so much hope and promise and beauty everywhere. God’s blessings of growth and life are so welcome after the grey winter!

Henbit and dandelions dot the landscape, attracting frenzied honeybees. The birds are singing their cheery spring songs. And lovely white, bell-like blossoms are appearing on the blueberry bushes!

If you haven’t guessed, blueberries are one of my very favorite elements of the growing season. 🙂 I grew up loving to pick them and loving to eat them…in Grandmom’s backyard, at U-pick farms, and at our homeplace. Currently we have about 14 plants in the ground and many more in pots in the nursery, covering a spectrum of different varieties.

I typically think of blueberry season as synonymous with being “knee-deep in June” here in our zone 7b area. But last year, thanks to a few early varieties, our season started in mid-May. When I saw the first berries to turn blue here last spring, I had to stop in wonder…my eyes didn’t deceive me!

In this little post, I’d like to introduce a handful of those early season blueberries!

The first berries came from a Northern highbush variety called Duke. From some of my reading, I’d understood, basically, Duke’s redeeming quality is that its berries are early. So I wasn’t expecting much from the flavor. But, yet again, I was surprised! After tasting those berries, I am a fan. They have a mid-large size and great flavor, that, to me, is totally worth having around!

Following right along on Duke’s heels, we also enjoyed Bluecrop and Blueray, two other Northern highbush varieties.

And then there was O’Neil. O’Neil, a Southern highbush, is also new to our place and completely won me over! The flavor is superbly sweet and delicious!

The ideal time to plant blueberry bushes is in their dormant state, when the leaves are gone during late fall through winter. But if you’re willing to keep them watered and baby them a little, there’s definitely still time to get blueberry bushes in the ground now, even though they are starting to escalate for the growing season. So if you haven’t already, I encourage you to plant you some!

I would definitely recommend growing all four of these early varieties to get a jump-start on your blueberry season. May’s not too far way, after all!

Your turn!
Are you excited about spring? Do you have a blueberry variety recommendation? What special memories have you made picking berries? (I’d love to hear!)

Thank you for reading! Happy spring!

Because of Jesus,
Maggie ♥