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| Hello. I've recently relocated to Northern Virginia from Georgia. There, I had quite a few rabbit eye blueberries; Tifblue, Climax did very well and they are the standard for me. Here in Virginia, I'm finding high bush varieties that I've never heard of. I purchased 'Sunshine Blue' and I'm considering 'Bountiful Blue'. Can't find any other varieties until spring. So what are your thoughts and experiences with BB? I've read the same rhetoric on multiple sites but what I'm looking for are actual grower reviews. Here's what all the websites say. "An award winning variety with the bluest foliage of all! Pink-blushed flowers produce a large crop of large, sweet, juicy berries on a compact, mounded shrub. Perfect for massing in the landscape or featuring in large tubs. Self fertile, though planting another variety may yield a more prolific harvest. Requires just 150-200 winter chill hours. Semi-evergreen in mild climates." http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/2823/bountiful-blue-blueberry/ |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Hello, I like to think of Bountiful Blue as Sunshine Blue's bigger(fatter)cousin.The berries are sweet and plentiful like the Sunshine's.Most of the leaves stay on all year where I'm at near Seattle.One year I put plastic bags over them so the snow couldn't collect and break the branches. Here are a few pictures.The first is when just getting them,then with fruit still ripening in Spring and shots taken today.They are looking a little ratty now,because of the season and probably should have been watered more during the Summer heat. Brady     |
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- Posted by ourhappyhome 7B (My Page) on Sun, Oct 19, 14 at 16:10
| Brady, thanks for the pictures. The foliage is beautiful. It will make a very nice winter shrub. The plants seem rather small but surprisingly full of berries. Is that a first year picture? Did they produce fruit the first season? This is my first try with Sunshine Blue as well, but there are plenty of positive reviews online for that variety. Bigger and fatter is good though. My rabbit eye blueberries produced from day one and just got better with each season. I prefer larger berries but I don't really like the mealy texture of the massive, quarter-sized blueberries. |
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| I think they were bought late in the season after fruiting,if they did.The next year there were berries though. Compared to Rabbiteyes,these plants are midgets.The fruit is fairly firm and sweet,like Sunshine Blue or Misty. Brady |
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| Bountiful Blue is the registered trademark name (by Monrovia) of FLX-2 blueberry. From the patent search, it is a hybrid plant of cross between FL 92-9 (female) and Sunshine blue (male). Though I do not have Bountiful Blue and can't write a review but I like the taste of Sunshine Blue (parent of Bountiful Blue) and since the berries of FLX-2 are larger than Sunshine Blue, I am also considering FLX-2 (aka Bountiful Blue) to add in my BB collection when the plants are available to me. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Southern highbrush blueberry plant named ‘FLX-2’
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- Posted by ourhappyhome 7B (My Page) on Mon, Oct 20, 14 at 20:02
| Thank you Inkfin. How large are the berries of SB? |
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- Posted by blueboy1977 TX9A/B (My Page) on Tue, Oct 21, 14 at 7:09
| I grew bountiful blue for 3 seasons here in South Houston Tx. This plant and Southmoon were the 2 most eye appealing plants from a looks stand point but I was not impressed with the fruit. For me it was a very lite bearor and while the berries were large, they wouldnt ever really sweeten up for me and found them rather sour. Keep in mind I was compairing it to 15 or so other varieties of Southern High Bush varieties. I gave the plant to my Dad 2 seasons ago and he enjoys it. One thing I noted, and this may be due to my humid southern environment, BB was very prone to powdery mildew in the interior canopy, also the plant would set many fruit buds but very few flowers per bud would emerge and even fewer berries would develope. I was doing good if I got 2 berries per fruit bud. I would even have fruit buds that wouldnt open up and flower. I believe this was from lack of chill hours. All 3 seasons I had this plant we didnt top 300 chill hours for winter. After I gave the plant to my Dad we hit close to 700 chill hours and he had a good harvest. I believe it will do much better in a northern climate. Sunshine Blue made the cut 3 seasons in my yard and Im still growing it today. I only kept 6 varieties of SHB after culling through over 15 varieties. SB is tops in taste and produces alot of fruit on small compact plant. I would recommend SB to anyone wanting to grow blues. Plus it will grow well in a higher Ph than most other blues in circulation today. Its a great container plant! Only negative I can find about this plant is it can be a pain to prune as its so compact and twiggy. It also sets way to many fruit for its size and must be thinned heavily for improved berry size and flavor. If you can get that down, its hands down one of the best flavored berries out there plus its the latest ripening SHB in my collection and theres no better way to close out the season than with a few SB. Cant say enough about this plant! |
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- Posted by blueboy1977 TX9A/B (My Page) on Tue, Oct 21, 14 at 7:10
| About the size of sunshine blue berries, when properly thinned, dime size fruit is the norm. If not thinned, they get smaller. |
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- Posted by ourhappyhome 7B (My Page) on Tue, Oct 21, 14 at 8:15
| Blueboy1977, you make me wish I had purchased more Sunshine Blue. I found BB half price at Lowes in the 1 gallon size. Bought and planted 3 to try. I do hope they perform better here. I hope to find a better selection come Spring. I'd especially like to try Blueray, Elliott and a sweet, prolific NHB, that grows in cluster, yet undetermined. Thank you Brady, Inkfin and Blueboy1977. |
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