Thursday, September 24, 2015

Zone 6b - NY - Fall colors

Zone 6b/7 summer temperatures mid 80s to high 80s. Occasionally mid 90s. Very sandy soil but I water them more frequently than other shrubs. Pollination is good. 

Honey Bee is the healthiest looking.  It has grown taller than Borealis but not as bushy.  It actually has some new growth but most of it looks like it wants to go dormant. Both have produced fruit that was twice the size of Berry Blue.

Borealis and HoneyBee
Photo taken August 29, 2015 shows Borealis on the left and Honey Bee on the right, both planted 2014.  Honey Bee looks very healthy while Borealis is starting to loss some color as it gets closer to dormancy. Borealis is nice and bushy. Honey Bee flowered and produced a few fruit in mid July of the year it arrived and planted in a pot.  This year was normal with ripe fruit second week of June.

Berry Blue
Berry Blue planted 2012.  It is losing some leaves but I expect it will be fine in the spring. It seems to be approaching dormancy faster than Honey Bee. (Editor's note: Russian varieties typically drop their leaves earlier than those with some Kuril Island or Japanese genetics, such as Borealis and Honey Bee).

Sugar Mountain Blue
Sugar Mountain planted 2014. It is doing poorly with very little growth this year. (Editor's note: One plant trial does not speak for this variety as a whole - most of our Sugar Mountain Blues put on 2 feet of growth their first year, similar to Berry Blue)
Dan, Long Island, New York, zone 6b