Some varieties of blueberries can work on your deck or around your ...

Tag : vegetable

Q: Where can I buy blueberries that can be grown in pots? Can theylive through the winter in a large pot on the deck? I have had goodluck with a clematis, and I would like to change it for ablueberry.
A: There are several kinds of dwarf blueberries that should survivejust fine outdoors in a pot. Vaccinium 'Sunshine Blue,' which is recommended for our climate, grows 3-4feet high and produces up to 10 pounds of sweet, nutritious fruit.It has bell-shaped, hot-pink flowers in May, followed by fruit thatripens over a long season from late July through September.
The dwarfest of the blueberries is called 'Top Hat,' and stays sosmall it looks more like an edible bonsai than a fruit-bearingshrub. 'Top Hat' grows only 18 inches high and wide yet issmothered in summer with tasty berries.
You can find blueberries sold bare-root in nurseries in earlyspring; mail-order companies also ship some kinds of blueberrybushes in autumn. A reliable regional source is Raintree Nursery inMorton ( www.raintreenursery.com ); just reading their catalog is a lesson in growing fruit in ourwest-of-the-Cascades climate.
Q: I'm thinking of hedging my vegetable garden with blueberries andam looking for a kind that is evergreen. Does such a plant exist?
A: You're in luck — 'Sunshine Blue,' described above, keepsmost of its leaves all winter, and they even turn attractive shadesof red and orange in late autumn. The fruit is light blue anddelicious, and the plants form a compact mound ideal for hedging.Like most blueberries, 'Sunshine Blue' grows and fruits well in sunor partial shade and requires well-drained soil and regularwatering in summer.
Q: Two years ago, we planted a screen of clumping bamboo. I can'tremember the name for sure, but I think it was " fargesia " something. It has grown too well, and now the clumps are sothick, with weak stems sticking out all over. What should we dowith this mess?
A: Your bamboo could well be the hardy, clumping Fargesia robusta . I grow this bamboo and have found it to be a handsome,well-behaved plant. That doesn't mean, however, that bamboo doesn'tneed thinning to look its best. At least twice a year, usually latespring and midsummer, I spend a couple of hours culling the clump.This means cutting down to the ground the weak or old orjust-too-congested culms, or shoots. Be sure to step back often andlook critically at what you're doing so you don't thin it out somuch you don't get the effect you want.
Bamboo looks its best when a clump is thinned so that you can seeeach stalk; also, stripping the leaves off the bottom of each stalkhelps the airy effect that bamboo is so good at creating. Butremember that bamboo is the fastest-growing woody plant in theworld, so even the clumping kinds need attention to look theirbest.
Valerie Easton also writes about Plant Life in Sunday's PacificNorthwest Magazine. Write to her at P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111or e-mail planttalk@seattletimes.com with your questions. Sorry, no personal replies.