Growing edible plants is a big trend, with everyone wanting to be just that little more self-sufficient, and not always depends on stores for every meal. If you think this means digging up your ornamental garden and turning it into a potato field, you are wrong. There are lots of ways to combine ‘ornamental’ and ‘edible’ in a single plant, and if you love blueberries (and who doesn’t) then we have the plant for you. Some of our country’s top commercial blueberry breeders have created a wonderful bush, that is as ornamental as boxwood, with glossy leaves, bright fall colors, attractive spring flowers, and best of all a delicious crop of tasty blueberries. Even the berries are colorful, starting yellow, then turning red, before ripening to that rich deep blue, all in the same bunch – a real color parade marching straight onto your table. Bushel & Berry® Blueberry Glaze is a compact hybrid blueberry for cool to warm zones, that is as attractive as it is tasty. It is perfect for container growing and bringing garden-fresh fruit to your doorstep without making your garden look like a farm.

Growing the Bushel & Berry® Blueberry Glaze

Size and Appearance

Bushel & Berry® Blueberry Glaze is a rounded deciduous shrub, 2 to 3 feet tall and wide, with many branches forming a dense plant. The glossy, dark green leaves are oval, and just over an inch long, with a short, pointed tip. The leaves and the plant look a lot like boxwood, so this is a very ornamental and decorative garden shrub. In fall the leaves turn attractive shade of glowing purples, reds and yellows, making a great show and brightening your garden spaces. In spring the branches carry clusters of fragrant blossoms that look like hanging urns. They are smokey white with pink blushes, giving a very attractive effect.

The flowers develop into clusters of 6 to 8 berries, each a ½ inch across, which are at first a green-flushed yellow, before turning wine red and then ripening to the classic blueberry dark-blue, dusted with a white powder. As the berries ripen all three colors are visible at the same time, making a very ornamental effect. Your crop will ripen through July, and every day you can pick a crop, using it on your breakfast cereal or baking it into pancakes or muffins. If you have several bushes you will have so many berries you may need to store them. They will keep in your fridge for a few days, or pop them, unwashed, straight into the freezer, where they will be ready for instant use months later (if you can resist the temptation that long). They have a delicious berry flavor, sweet enough to simply pop them into your mouth, with just the right tangy balance.

Using the Bushel & Berry® Blueberry Glaze in Your Garden

You can grow the Blueberry Glaze bush right in your garden, if you have suitable soil. It makes an attractive accent bush in your beds, or a lovely informal, dual-purpose edging plant. It is also ideal for container growing, and this is also the perfect solution if your garden soil is not suitable for blueberries. You can place a pair of ornamental containers framing a door or gateway, line a walkway, or decorate the corners of a patio. You can even grow this versatile plant on a balcony or terrace, even if you have no garden at all.

Hardiness

The Blueberry Glaze bush is hardy from zone 5 to 8. It does need a period of winter cold, so don’t plant it in very hot zones. There we recommend the Bushel & Berry® Blueberry Buckle variety, which is more heat and drought resistant.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Full sun is best for your Blueberry Glaze bush. In the garden the soil needs to be strongly acidic, with a pH value of 5.5 or less. The soil should be rich in organic materials, and moist but not constantly boggy. If you don’t have suitable soil, grow it in a pot or planter box, using soil blended for acid-loving plants, adding shredded pine bark to the soil, and using it as a mulch as well. The pot must have drainage holes.

Maintenance and Pruning

No special pruning or trimming is needed to enjoy the Blueberry Glaze bush. You can shorten any long shoots in late winter to keep it neat and rounded, if needed. It is not especially susceptible to pests and diseases. Fertilize with shrub fertilizer for acid-loving plants in early spring and early summer, particularly when growing in pots. Water regularly whenever the soil surface just begins to look a little dry. No special care or skill is needed to grow this easy plant.

History and Origin of the Bushel & Berry® Blueberry Glaze

The Blueberry Glaze bush is a complex hybrid blueberry, created in a special breeding program. It combines three types of blueberry bushes: Vaccinium myrsinites, the shiny blueberry; Vaccinium corymbosum, the northern highbush blueberry; and the wild lowbush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium. David Brazelton and Adam Wagner are breeders with Fall Creek Farm and Nursery, Inc., of Lowell Oregon, who create commercial blueberry crops. They worked with the famous blueberry breeder Arlen Draper, who specializes in bringing wild genes into commercial crops. Together they crossed many plants together, and in 2008 they selected a unique bush they called `ZF08-095`. This was patented in 2015 and named Blueberry Glaze. It is one of the berry bushes in the new Bushel & Berry® range, created by Star® Roses and Plants to bring easy fruit growing to home gardens without losing ornamental value in the plants.

Buying the Bushel & Berry® Blueberry Glaze at The Tree Center

We are loving the Bushel & Berry® range, because it gives you such ornamental plants, but also such tasty fruit – a real gardener’s ‘twofer’. Everyone is loving them too, so our stock is moving out fast. Order your bushes now, while we still have them available, and enjoy picking fresh blueberries from an ornamental bush right outside your door – what could be better?