Along with lip-smacking sweetness, flower and foliage are also worthy reasons to grow blueberries. White, bell-shaped blossoms make a lovely addition to a spring garden and fiery scarlet foliage adds drama to a fading autumn landscape. In addition to taste and appearance, blueberries are ripe with medical advantages; they help lower cholesterol and studies suggest that blueberries also reduce risk of some cancers.

Types of Blueberries

1.Highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) are those usually found in produce department of your grocery. As you might expect, they are named because bushes grow to 6-feet in height. Fruits are large, from ½ to an inch in diameter. Depending on variety, highbush blueberries are hardy from Zones 4 through 11. 2.Lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) generally reach no more than 18-inches in height. Propagated from shoots spread through underground runners, lowbush blueberries form low mats of plants that produce best on a two-year cycle. The first year is growth year and second year is fruiting year. The sweet, quarter-inch fruits of lowbush blueberries commonly are known as Wild Blueberries and are hardy in Zones 3 through 6. 3.Half-high blueberries (V. corymbosum x V. angustifolium) are a hybrid between lowbush and highbush cultivars. Although shorter than high-bush blueberries, half-high grow in much same way as their taller relatives. Taste and size meet halfway between highbush and lowbush. An extra advantage for northern grower is that half-high blueberries were especially bred to withstand heavy snowfalls and cold winters of inland North America and are hardy to Zone 3. 4.Rabbiteye blueberries (Vaccinium ashei), native to Southeastern United States, are tallest of blueberry bushes, reaching up to 10-feet in height. Because of their thick skins, rabbiteye blueberries are able to withstand southern heat in zones seven through nine.

Site Selection

"I will not have corn growing in my front yard," said my husband.

"Corn is a handsome plant. It gives a lush, tropical air."

"I will not have corn growing in my front yard."

So we didn't have corn next year. Our back yard was shaded, except for one part, and I had decided to grow roses there instead of corn.

The year after that I returned to argument: "What if we planted corn in side yard? It gets lots of sun."

"I will not have corn in my front yard."

"This wouldn't be front yard. It would be side yard. And you remember how delicious corn tastes when you pick it five minutes before you cook it?"

He thought about how delicious corn tastes. "I guess side yard isn't front yard," he said. "Okay. You can grow corn in side yard."

"And I'll plant a hedge out front so people can't see corn as they drive by."

"That's even better."

So I began to plan a hedge.

We had many children in our Virginia neighborhood. Why not plant a hedge they could enjoy?

In corner next to our neighbor's property, I began hedge with a serviceberry bush (an Amelanchier). Serviceberry bushes and trees vary in size. Mine ended up about eight feet tall, with feathery white blossoms in spring and brilliant orange leaves in fall. In summer it produced tiny black berries with one drawback: between birds and children, they zipped off that bush. I got exactly two berries one year and none thereafter. I can state, on basis of those two berries, that they taste a good deal like huckleberries. They are good.