March 16, 2010

Pink Lemonade Blueberry

A hot new item this year is--get this--a pink blueberry. That's right! It's called "Pink Lemonade" and it really does have pink fruit. If you're interested in what "Pink Lemonade" is all about, here's some information on it, courtesy of Briggs Nursery (one of the growers for retail nurseries):

Pink Lemonade offers four seasons of color. The pinkish-white showy flowers are bell-shaped in spring. The fruit are pale greenish at first, then dappled pink, and finally turning to deep pink on ripening. Leaves are glossy green and lanceolate. Leaf surface texture is smooth, very similar to that of Vaccinium ashei. In fall, leaves turn golden yellow then bright orange. Wintertime twigs are dusky reddish-brown. Wintertime fruit encourages song birds and other wildlife in the garden. 

The ideal adaption of 'Pink Lemonade' is unknown, but its background suggests that it might perform equally well or better in milder climates including areas where rabbiteye cultivars can be grown. Mid-late to late-season ripening, with moderate yields of medium-sized, glossy fruit, bright pink fruit color, mild, pleasant flavor, and good firmness. 

Requires high light levels and well drained acid soil, high in organic material. Moisture content should be adequate and even. 

'Pink Lemonade' is ideally suited for borders, beds or in a mass planting mixed in with other ornamentals or perennials.

At Vander Giessen Nursery, we're proud to debut this beautiful new variety of blueberry. It's truly a unique introduction in the world of fruit! 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you had a lot of interest in the new pink blueberry?

If the traffic from a post I wrote about Briggs introducing it and asking my readers if they thought it would be a popular plant is any indication, you should sell out! I wrote it January of '09 for the Mistkits blog and it has been the most popular post on the blog as well as # 1 on Google for a while now (THANKS Google!).

There has been quite a bit of buzz about them and when I ordered mine a month or so ago, many nurseries were already sold out.

Vander Giessen Nursery said...

Yeah, we sold out in just a few weeks. I had a few customers that were disconcerted by the idea of a "blue"berry not true to its name, but I still sold out well before the normal spring sales start! We're looking forward to having them again next year...and more of them, too!