Vaccinium Corymbosum Emblue Swamp Blueberry

Vaccinium Corymbosum Emblue is a cultivar of deciduous Highbush Swamp Blueberry. It produces large delicious blueberries on a compact shrub during July and August.

Blueberries are native to North America where they grow wild in damp acidic environments. Blueberries were introduced to Europe in the 1930s and have become very popular for their tasty vitamin-packed berries. In early spring, brand new glossy green foliage flushed with red emerges on bare branches and unfurls to shiny mid-green ovals. It’s not long before its attractive foliage is joined by pretty pale pink to white urn-shaped flower clusters in April and May. Its flowers resemble Lily of the Valley or Pieris Japonica blooms and they’re highly attractive flowers to pollinators. Some gardeners grow blueberries just for their ornamental flowers.

Once pollinated, large edible sweet blueberries develop in June and ripen from July to August. After the harvest as autumn approaches Swamp Blueberry’s foliage turns vivid scarlet and bronze autumn shades bright enough to rival Acers, before falling with the first frosts.

This is a hardy, compact blueberry bush with masses of large sweet fruits in summer. It’s a must for kitchen gardens.

Height And Spread of Vaccinium Corymbosum Emblue
Swamp blueberry is compact reaching only 1.5 metres in height and width over several years.

How Hardy Is Vaccinium Corymbosum Emblue
This blueberry is hardy enough to withstand wet and cold UK winters if it has well-drained roots, shelter, plenty of sunshine and acidic soil.

How To Use Vaccinium Corymbosum Emblue
Emblue is an excellent American blueberry for kitchen gardens, fruit cages, borders and containers. It’s not only capable of producing sweet, child-friendly fruit, but its attractive flowers and handsome season-changing foliage mean it earns its place as an ornamental shrub too.
Swamp blueberries will happily grow in a container on a warm balcony or patio. You don’t need a lot of space to accommodate this productive fruit bush. The cultivar Vaccinium Corymbosum Emblue is a good choice for compact gardens and fruit cages.

How To Care For Vaccinium Corymbosum Emblue
All blueberries need sun or partial shade in a sheltered spot to thrive because harsh freezing wind damages the flower sprays.
You may have heard that blueberries are difficult to grow, but this is not the case. The main aspect you need to get right is the soil. Blueberries need acidic soil. If your flower borders are not acidic enough (pH 4.5-5.5) they will struggle to fruit and become chlorotic. This problem is easily solved with container planting. Blueberries thrive in large well-watered and fed containers of ericaceous soil. Be sure to use a specific ericaceous feed.
Keep blueberries well-watered in the summer months, preferably with rainwater because tap water raises the pH level, and apply acid bracken or pine-based mulch to those growing in flower borders.
Blueberries fruit best on new canes, so it’s best to remove 1/3 of the old canes each year once it’s established to enhance the fruit crop. Cut 1/3 of the thin branches down to the ground in winter, but leave the fat-budded stems in place because these are next year’s fruiters.