Tree and shrub with blue berries: 11 species

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

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

Kira Bellingham

I'm a homes writer and editor with more than 20 years' experience in publishing. I have worked across many titles, including Ideal Home and, of course, Homes & Gardens. My day job is as Chief Group Sub Editor across the homes and interiors titles in the group. This has given me broad experience in interiors advice on just about every subject. I'm obsessed with interiors and delighted to be part of the Homes & Gardens team.

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