Trees and shrubs that bear blue berries are popular ornamental trees. However, not all fruits are non-toxic to humans. However, they are an important food source for birds in autumn and winter.
Table of Contents
shrubs
Berberitze (Berberis gagnepainii, Berberis candidula und Berberis julianae)
- Occurrence: Gardens (solitaire or hedge), cemeteries, rock gardens
- evergreen ornamental shrub with thorny branches
- Fruits: oblong, dark blue to bluish-black, bluish pruinescence, hibernator
- Growth: dense, upright
- Growth height: 150 to 300 centimeters
- Growth width: 150 to 300 centimeters
- Flowers: small, yellow, from May to June
- Leaves: dark green (upper side), blue-green or silvery-white underside, narrowly lanceolate to oval, leaf thorns
- Location: sun to semi-shade
Kamchatka honeysuckle (Siberian blueberry, honeyberry, bot. Lonicera caerulea var. kamtschatica)
- Occurrence: in (orchard) gardens (solitaire, groups, hedge)
- deciduous shrub with edible berries
- Fruits: cylindrical to pear-shaped, dark blue to blue-black, blue frosted, up to 3.1 centimeters long (depending on variety)
- Harvest time: May to June
- Growth: richly branched
- Growth height: 100 to 200 centimeters
- Growth width: 200 to 300 centimeters
- Flowers: yellowish to greenish-yellowish, funnel-shaped, from March to April
- Leaves: dark green, elliptical, 4 to 10 centimeters long, clearly hairy in summer
- Location: sun to semi-shade
- Soil: normal garden soil
Tip: Many varieties of honeyberries are suitable for pot culture.
Caucasian ivy (Hedera colchica)
- Occurrence: ground cover (garden), facades, walls, cemeteries
- evergreen climbing shrub
- Fruits: round, dark blue to blue-black, in umbels
- Growth: dense, upright, overhanging when old
- Growth height: 500 to 700 centimeters
- Growth width: 300 to 400 centimeters
- Flowers: inconspicuous, green-yellow, from September to October
- Leaves: dark green
- Location: sun to shade
- Soil: normal garden soil
Cultivated bilberry (American bilberry, bot. Vaccinium corymbosum)
- Occurrence: Gardens (solitaire, low hedge, tub)
- deciduous subshrub
- Fruits: roundish, light blue to blueberry blue (depending on variety)
- Harvest time: mid-July to mid-September (depending on variety)
- Growth: upright, bushy to shrub-like
- Growth height: up to 200 centimeters (depending on variety)
- Growth width: up to 170 centimeters (depending on variety)
- Flowers: small, white to pink, from April to June (depending on variety)
- Leaves: green to medium green, ovate to lanceolate
- Location: sun to semi-shade (depending on variety)
- Soil: fresh to moist, slightly acidic, humic, loose, well-drained
Note: Different varieties of cultivated blueberries are also suitable for growing in pots.
Mahonien (Mahonia bealei und Mahonia aquifolium)
- Occurrence: Gardens and parks (solitaire or in rows), container plant
- evergreen ornamental shrub with edible blue berries (slightly toxic raw)
- Fruits: ovoid, blue-black, bluish pruinescence, 1 to 1.5 centimeters large (M. bealei); pea-sized ( M. aquifolium )
- Growth: upright, few branches
- Growth height: 60 to 200 centimeters (depending on the type and variety)
- Growth width: 50 to 200 centimeters (depending on the type and variety)
- Flowers: light yellow, racemes, from the end of February/March to April/June (depending on the type and variety)
- Leaves: Blue-green or medium to dark green, with thorny teeth; red autumn colors possible
- Location: shade to semi-shade
- Soil: loose, nutritious, normal
Note: The blue berries are particularly popular with birds.
Rauschbeere (Trunkelbeere, Moorbeere, Nebelberere, Kronsberere, bot. Vaccinium uliginosum)
- Occurrence: deciduous and coniferous forests, forest and raised bogs; in the garden: moor bed, bucket
- small shrub
- Fruits: similar to wild blueberries, but plum-shaped and larger; light flesh and light juice
- Ripening time: late summer
- Growth: upright
- Growth height: 20 to 80 centimeters
- Flowers: small, whitish to pink, from May to June
- Leaves: oval, blue-green (upper side), grey-green underside
- Location: partial shade
- Soil: moist, rather acidic
Caution: Consuming raw bog bilberries can lead to symptoms of poisoning.
Sade tree (stink juniper, poison juniper, bot. Juniperus sabina)
- Occurrence: Rock cracks and slopes, light pine and larch forests, in the mountains up to 2,000 meters; in the garden as a solitaire or ground cover, Japanese gardens, parks, cemeteries
- Immerse Zierstrauch
- fruits: ovate to spherical; 0.5 to 0.7 centimeters long, with blue-black frosting
- Habit: Rarely upright, flat-growing, horizontal twigs
- Growth height: up to 50 centimeters
- Growth width: up to 350 centimeters
- Flowers: small, yellow, bell-shaped from May to early June
- Leaves: green to blue-green needles
- Location: sun to semi-shade
- Soil: normal, fresh, well drained
Wild-Heidelbeere (Blaubeere, Schwarzbeere, bot. Vaccinium myrtillus)
- Occurrence: in deciduous and coniferous forests (especially in pine and mountain spruce forests), in mountain and bog heaths
- deciduous dwarf shrub
- Fruits: black-blue, round, up to one centimeter in diameter, with blue-grey frosting (ripe berries)
- Harvest time: July to September
- Growth: upright, heavily branched
- Growth height: 10 to 60 centimeters
- Flowers: greenish to reddish, from April / May
- Leaves: Grass green, elliptical to ovate, two to three centimeters long
- Location: partial shade
Note: Blueberry bushes are offered for planting in the garden.
trees
Shiny privet (Shiny privet, bot. Ligustrum lucidum)
The glossy privet grows as a tree or tall shrub with a height of up to 25 meters.
- Occurrence: Gardens and parks (solitaire or hedge), container plant
- Evergreen or deciduous ornamental tree with poisonous berries and decorative flowers
- Fruits: kidney-shaped, deep blue-black, about one centimeter long
- Growth: well branched
- Flowers: Cream-colored panicles (12 to 20 centimeters long), from May to July
- Leaves: dark green (upper side), lighter underside, leathery
- Location: sun to shade (depending on variety)
- Soil: permeable, fresh, sandy-loamy
Note: Glossy privet berries are an important winter food source for birds.
Blackthorn (sloe, sour plum, hedge thorn, blackthorn, bot. Prunus spinosa)
Blackthorn can grow as a shrub or as a small, multi-stemmed tree. It usually grows up to 300 centimeters high, but can also reach up to 600 centimeters in height.
- Occurrence: Forest and roadsides, rocky slopes, in bushes, up to 1,600 meters; in the garden as a specimen or hedge
- deciduous, sparse and thorny wood
- Fruits: Spherical to slightly elliptical, 0.6 to 1.8 centimeters in diameter, blue-black frosted, hibernates
- Flowers: small, white, from April to May
- Leaves: green, obovate, yellowish autumn colour
- Location: sun to semi-shade
- Soil: undemanding, also calcareous
Tip: The berries can only be eaten after the first frost.
Juniper (Juniperus communis and Juniperus chinensis)
The common (J. communis) and Chinese juniper , in addition to the well-known creeping or upright shrubs, also have trees that bear blue berries.
- Occurrence: Rough pastures, on rocks, light forests, in gardens and parks
- evergreen shrub
- Fruits: berry-shaped cones, ripening time three years, blue-black, bluish frosted
- Flowers: yellowish (male flowers), inconspicuous (female flowers) from April to May
- Leaves: green needles
- Location: sun
- Soil: dry, calcareous, rich in bases
