Lowbush Blueberry

Vaccinium angustifolium

Lowbush blueberry is the native groundcover that grows wild across granite barrens and rocky hillsides from Virginia north to Labrador. In the garden, it spreads slowly into a dense, six-to-eighteen-inch mat that needs no maintenance and rewards you with the small, intensely sweet berries that make highbush blueberries taste bland by comparison. The berries are smaller, the flavor is concentrated. The fall color is outstanding. one of the best of any low-growing native, turning vivid scarlet and red across a planting in October. It tolerates poor, dry, sandy soil and is one of the most cold-hardy native shrubs available. Deer largely leave it alone once established. Plant in drifts on a sunny slope or bank for groundcover effect and berry production.