Hairy Blueberry

Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as medium, like our hillside blueberry, about a foot and a half a year. It stands 8 inches to 2 1/2 feet tall and spreads by underground runners into open colonies.

Short clusters of white bells tinged with pink open in early summer, hairy outside, each about a third of an inch long. The berries are blue-black, about a quarter to a third of an inch across, and covered with glandular hairs. Their flavor is sweet and pleasant but mild.

It grows wild only in a few counties of southwestern North Carolina, southeastern Tennessee and northern Georgia. Its home is dry oak and pine ridges, red oak woods and mountain meadows, from about 2,000 to 5,000 feet.

How to grow Hairy Blueberry

Hairy blueberry takes part shade or sun, as on the open oak and pine ridges where it grows wild. In gardens it spreads fastest in a spot that stays moist and is not too sunny. It needs an acid soil that drains well. Set plants 2 feet apart and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch with pine needles or oak leaves, clear of the stems. The seed is small and needs light to sprout. Keep the dry seed in the refrigerator for about 90 days. Then sow it on the surface of a moist, acid mix, uncovered, in light.

Water weekly through the first summer. It spreads by underground runners into a colony, so give it room. It needs no pruning.

Each flower carries both male and female parts. A colony from one plant is a single clone, and blueberries set more fruit with pollen from another plant, so plant two or more seedlings from different parents.