Best Blueberry Varieties for Scotland

Blueberries need acid soil, pH 4.5 to 5.5, stricter than almost any other garden fruit, and getting that right matters more than which variety you plant. Once the soil, or a pot of ericaceous compost, is sorted, the choice comes down to three things: how short a summer a variety can crop in, how big the bush grows, and whether you want blue berries at all.

What Scotland means for the choice

A short, cool summer and late spring frosts are what separate the varieties here. Duke flowers late but still crops early, which makes it suited to colder, northern areas and a shorter summer. Late flowering probably helps because blueberry flowers can be damaged by a late frost, so a later flush has less chance of meeting one. Our Scottish frost dates page shows how much later frost comes inland and on high ground than on the coast. Duke and Spartan are both rated H6The RHS's H1a–H7 scale for how much cold a plant can survive outdoors, H1a being tender indoor-only and H7 hardy anywhere in the UK. Full definition →, hardy anywhere in the UK, down to about -15 to -20°C. The blueberry growing guide covers soil, planting, watering, feeding and pruning.

The varieties compared

Duke and Spartan hold the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGMThe RHS's Award of Garden Merit: a UK-wide trials award for reliable performance, not a Scotland-specific recommendation. Full definition →), a UK-wide award rather than a Scottish one. The others don't, but each suits a particular need.

Duke and Spartan make the best pair. Blueberries are partly self-fertileA plant that can set fruit using its own pollen, without needing a second, different variety nearby to cross-pollinate it. Full definition →, but a second variety nearby increases the harvest, and three different varieties together give the best yield.

Bluetta and Sunshine Blue are the compact ones for a patio pot or a small garden. Sunshine Blue is semi-evergreen, with leaves that turn purple-red rather than dropping, which helps if the pot is on show through winter. Vine weevil is a particular risk in pots, whichever variety you grow, because the grubs eat the roots.

Pink Lemonade (also sold as Pink Sapphire) has medium-sized berries that turn deep pink from midsummer, and orange-red autumn leaves. Grow it for looks and novelty rather than a heavy crop.

Ozarkblue has good fruit and yields, but it suits areas with hotter summers. That's the one to leave out in most Scottish gardens.

Other varieties worth trying

Bluecrop is self-fertile but crops better with a partner, giving a heavy August harvest of large, firm, richly flavoured berries on a compact bush about 1.2m by 90cm. It's a good second bush alongside Duke if yield matters most. Earliblue ripens early, with large, light-blue, sweet berries and good autumn colour, at about 1.8m by 1.8m. Brigitta has large fruit ripening late, around the end of August, and needs another variety nearby to crop well. None of the three holds the AGM.

Whatever you grow, watch for powdery mildew and phytophthora root rot, which follows waterlogged ground, and net against birds, which take ripe fruit from every variety.

Common questions

Sources