Blueberries

* Common name: Blueberry

* Botanical name: Vaccinium corymbosum

* What it is: An upright fruiting shrub with tasty, nutritious dark-blue berries that ripen late June to early August, depending on variety. Very attractive: late-spring white hanging bell-shaped flowers, then fruits, then glossy scarlet fall foliage.

* Size: 5 feet tall, 3 feet wide.

* Where to use: Makes good-looking, edible hedge along a property line or vegetable-garden fence. Also good along a southern or western house foundation. Best in full sun. Use at least three different varieties for best cross-pollination and to spread out harvest. Good varieties: ‘Sunrise,’ ‘Duke,’ ‘Patriot,’ ‘Bluecrop,’ ‘Herbert,’ ‘Jersey,’ ‘Aurora.’

* Care: Likes very acidic soil. Add sulfur at planting and scratch in scatterings each summer after harvest. A spring and post-harvest scattering of a balanced organic granular fertilizer also helps. Spray usually not needed, but birds will take every last berry if you don’t cover ripening fruit with netting or floating row cover. Keep watered in dry weather.

* Great partner: Strawberries or leadwort (plumbago).