Vaccinium angustifolium

Sizes available: 2 quart

Basics: zones 2-8, 8- 18" x 24", full sun to part shade, white bell-shaped flowers bloom in mid to late spring, The blue berries ripen in early to mid August and are beloved by all,  the leaves turn red in the fall, prefers acidic soils and is drought tolerant once established.

Common names: Lowbush Blueberry

Family: Ericaceae

Origin/Distributuion: Labrador to Saskatchewan, south to New England and down into West Virginia, Ohio, northern Illinois, and Iowa. Native to Maine.

Habitat: open woods in association with conifers, dry grass edges and old fields, balds, sandy, and/or rocky spots

More: This is an extremely adaptable shrub that you can plant almost anywhere (except in alkaline soils or standing water). It has a delicious berry, as we all well know, and it has beautiful fall color. It is the official Maine state fruit and blueberry pie is apparently our state dessert.

It might be easier to name to fauna that this plant does not support, but here are some of the creatures that appreciate its presence:

Bears, raccoons, foxes, white-tailed deer, humans, and numerous birds come for the berries. Its blooms support queen bumblebees early in the season. The mining bees, Carlin's Mining Bee, Andrena carlini, the Neighborly Mining Bee, Andrena vicuna, and the Carolina Mining Bee, Andrena carolina, are all important wild bee pollinators on blueberries and are all ground nesting bees (so leave some heaps of gravelly sand lying about). The Unequal Cellophane or Plasterer Bee, Colletes inaequalis, ia also a ground-nester that is very early to emerge and feeds from blueberry flowers. According to the Native Plant Finder of the National Wildlife Federation, in my zip code, 290 species of butterfly and moth are associated with Vaccinium angustifolium in its role as a larval host. Here are their top 13: The Beggar, Eubaphe mendica, Snowberry Clearwing, Hemaris diffinis, Green Comma, Polygonia faunus, Large Lace-Border, Scopula limboundata, Definite Tussock Moth, Orgyia definita, Apple Sphinx, Sphinx gordius, Crocus Geometer, Xanthotype sospeta, Funerary Dagger Moth, Acronicta funeralis, Spiny Oak-Slug Moth, Euclea delphinii, Hickory Tussock Moth, Lophocampa caryae, Polyphemus Moth, Antheraea polyphemus, Cecropia Silkmoth, Hyalophora cecropia, and White-marked Tussock Moth, Orgyia leucostigma.

Nursery: Van Berkum

Image credits: Wikimedia Commons