Tag Archives: blueberries out of season

Blueberries in January

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This photo shows a bunch of blueberry leaves and many flowers which range from white to pink, in delicate little bell shapes. All but one of my blueberry plants are putting out flowers, and some of them are putting out a lot of flowers. Right now. In January. Every photo in this post was taken on the morning of January 22. A bunch of blueberry leaves with green veings and yellowish colors, some with red burn on the edge, with little, tight, closed flower clusters tucked in the center. Some of the flowers haven’t opened yet (yes, some of these plants have an iron deficiency. I know. I’m going to address that). About four green blueberry leaves with a cluster of tight, hot pink flowers in the center. In particular, the Sunshine Blue bushes (it’s one of the blueberry varieties I have) seem to have a lot of this bright pink unopened flowers now. A large cluster of blueberry leaves, with many white-to pink tiny bell shaped flowers hanging down from the branches However, many of the flowers on the Misty bush (Misty is another blueberry variety) are in full bloom, and bringing in the hummingbirds (I’ve seen hummingbirds around the blueberries a few times this week).

Bright green leaves fill the right and bottom of the picture, with delicate, white bell flowers in the center-left, with little pink sepals around them.

I particularly like this photo.

If I were in the southern hemisphere, this wouldn’t be strange at all. But I’m in California. Blueberry bushes in January in the northern hemisphere are supposed to be dormant, not blooming. But I don’t just have flowers. Yellow-green leaves, with small, white-pink blueberries forming. I have berries. A blueberry stalk with leaves, a few pink flower buds, some pink unripe berries, a one blue, almost ripe berries. And some of these berries are almost ripe. A blueberry stalk with about five almost-ripe berries, many leaves, and about seven unripe berries. This blog is called ‘the notes which do not fit’. I can tell ya, blueberries, in January, in the northern Hemisphere, do not fit any of the standard knowledge about cultivating blueberries. About the only thing which almost fits is that I recall reading somewhere about blueberry farms in California experimenting with off-season blueberries so they can fetch higher prices. I guess California is the place for this kind of thing. Oh, and I know that one of the blueberry varieties I have, Sharpblue, can sometimes put out berries in October/November, but a) it is not October/November and b) the Sharpblue only has a few little flower buds right now.

The woodland strawberry is making a comeback, thanks to the December rains, and the yarrow is doing fantastic.

The woodland strawberry is making a comeback, thanks to the December rains, and the yarrow is doing fantastic.

I don’t know what’s going on here, but if it means I get fresh blueberries in January/February, I’m not going to complain. A closeup picture featuring a cluster of four large blueberries, two blue, two red, amid many blueberry leaves.

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