Hi Lalennoxa, I have two varieties, Patriot and Northland. They are now blooming. They do turn a beautiful red in fall, but I find they’re somewhat sparse so I would not plant them strictly for their ornemental value elsewhere in my garden. Here’s a picture, the large 3 shrubs are haskaps. And the blueberry bushes (4 of them) are getting overwhelmed by the strawberries.

I love blueberries but have given up on trying to grow them here - in the ground or in pots; lowbush or highbush....! The issue really is pH. The soil here is neutral-to-alkaline and the water also is alkaline - unless you only use rainwater to water them.... Potted bushes survived the winter in the garage. I added lots of peat to the potting mix in the pots. But it was a PITA to always try to water them with rainwater. Eventually I just gave up after a couple of years of trying and getting very small crops. Good luck to you....!

They require lots of care here, but there are quite a few blueberry farms about. I think I'd prefer to buy mine than growing them (I have raspberries in ground 3 yrs now, and thinking the same thing about them). The birds get more than I do.

Like Woody says, it’s the pH that will get you. If your neighbourhood is not full of thriving azaleas and rhododendrons, you’re not going to have thriving blueberry bushes.

I have two -- Bluejay and Jersey. They bloom at the same time but Jersey is ready to harvest a month later. They were a ton of work in the beginning and struggled a lot the first two years because I rushed the planting before the soil was ready.
Finally, after the pH want down significantly (I used sulfur) and the clay broke down (loads of compost and pine bark) I can say they are happy and I can relax. Birds are a huge problem though -- I had to invest in a crop cage. But it also comes in handy for strawberries.

Upper left bed (pic taken in April):

I have three blueberries and intentions to plant more. Mine don’t get quite enough sun and most years the birds get the majority of the berries. But they’re pretty shrubs even without the fruit harvest.

My three are Legacy, Homebell, and Premier. Homebell never seems to fruit. The other two do.

I once found a fantastic chart of all the cross pollinating types but I can’t find it again.

I just picked up a Jelly Bean. It's still in the original pot but it's LOADED with berries - it came that way from the nursery. I have it sitting on my front deck so I can keep a close eye on it. We have probably perfect blueberry growing soil here (tons of rhodies and azaleas everywhere) so once I figure out where to put it in the ground I'm sure it'll be happy. I'm glad to join the blue crew!

I have 6 bushes and they are each about 5' wide and I have to prune them every year to keep the size manageable. We have a garden fence (15' x15') around this patch and I cover it with deer netting to keep out the birds.

You definitely need acidic soil; I add cottonseed meal, an inch of peat moss and LeafGro every fall and then mulch with pine needles. Sulfur every 2 years. Wonder if wrapping to protect from wind burn in addition to proper soil would be useful? Good luck.

I have alkaline clay soil, but I am growing two blueberriy bushes in raised beds with potting mix. They survived the winter and are setting berries now for this year. They are nowhere near the size Anna’s bushes, but I’m pleased to have them alive and growing.

I did a growing set-up for a customer, using old wooden whisky barrels, ericaceous soil and crucially, an irrigation system which was basically roof run-off, diverted via drainpipes and guttering, right into the barrels (3). Yep, PH is essential...but as important, here in east anglia, was watering...and hard tapwater didn't cut it but rainwater was the tops. Never had the space to do a similar set-up for myself...but it worked a treat for my customer.

I have 1 Duke, 1 Patriot and 1 Bluecrop. I am doing a risky experiment insofar as I have not amended the soil nor planted in containers. I was pretty sure they'd fail but this is their third year and they're loaded. I don't water them so they avoid our hard tap water and I give them a spot of ericaceous feed now and then but they're plonked directly into my claggy clay allotment soil which I've always assumed was probably fairly alkaline. But apparently not as much as I thought.

They're between a row of raspberries and another of black currants. All in the same soil.

I planted three bushes this spring, all different varieties for successive harvest. Lots of berries basking in the sun right now -- I know I better get the bird netting out soon... Funny though -- they flowered soon after I brought them home, at the same time my cherry bushes ("Juliet") bloomed; the blueberries are loaded with fruit, yet I have a whopping 3 -- count 'em 3! -- cherries. What's up with that? Certainly the pollinators were out or the blues wouldn't have set fruit. Anyway, I'm a bit concerned because the blueberry leaves are looking rather chlorotic -- I'm thinking the pH isn't low enough, I'm going to have to do something about that, good suggestion in above post.

My raspberries bushes are luscious this year, nice fruit set; I have "Caroline", which bears again on new growth so can enjoy into the fall. My blackberry canes died back but are growing vigorous new canes. My peach tree didn't flower -- big disappointment, home-grown peaches knock the socks off even the best store-bought.

mxk3 - how old are your Juliet cherries? I've wondered about planting those here if I could find a spot for the...! I gather they can produce fruit fairly quickly (3 years) but are better in 5-6 years as they reach maturity. Also, that they can self-pollinate but produce better when there is another variety with them. Do you have another cherry too?

Pretty much any of the Canadian bred cherries (Stella, Sunburst, Lapins, Summer Sun etc) are self-fertile, prolific, mannerly (on Gisela/Tabel rootstock rather than Colt) and precocious. I had Lapins/Cherokee for a decade before getting a late season cherry as well...and, at least for the Canadians, the fertility hasn't been affected by having a companion (or not).

"Juliets" were planted last summer -- they're about thigh-high right now, healthy growth, had lots of flowers but a paucity of cherries. Might have been the weather affecting pollination but then again why did the blueberries set fruit and not the cherries? They're next to each other. Don't have any other cherry varieties (yet).

Probably just as well...because, at least with cherry cultivation in the UK, it would be prudent to remove any fruit set for the first couple of years. I am not familiar with Juliet but even the most precocious trees are not really going to produce reliable fruit till year 4.

This is looking to be a decent cherry year though.

Wow - thanks for all your input! I was mostly intrigued with the one bush, which has only chosen to start leafing out as of the past week or so, which really had me thinking it was dead. But I guess not :-) Funny thing is, blueberries are one of those fruits which I enjoy, but really only go crazy about when I travel to the east coast. Actually, I lie...nothing quite like a simple blueberry pie...

I grew up on the east coast of Canada - wild blueberries everywhere...! My first summer job in university was working on a blueberry breeding project at the NB Dept. of Ag.! If you want a great blueberry dessert, try my grandmother’s recipe for wild blueberry shortcake...! As kids, one of my sister and my jobs was picking wild blueberries (or wild strawberries in season) for grandma so she could make shortcakes...YUM! Since there’s no hope of growing wild blueberries successfully in our soil here (believe me, I’ve tried!), our only alternative is to spend outrageous $$ to buy them at farmers’ markets where the blueberries have been brought in from areas with acid soil. At one point in DH’s career he used to go to NB from time to time. In blueberry season he always brought back large baskets of wild blueberries. *sigh* those days are over now.... Good luck with your plants.

I have three Patriots, a Bluecrop and a Spartan. They were all in containers last year and overwintered in them, until I got around to planting them in their permanent home this spring. They did fine in containers but have been a little slow to get started this year, despite the fact that my soil is naturally fairly acidic (azaleas and rhodies are common here) and I amended with peat moss before planting. I'm guessing that the harsh winter in containers wasn't good for them, so I'm not expecting much this year. Hopefully they'll take off next spring!