It’s never been easier to grow your own nutritious blueberries. Bushel and Berry has just added 2 new blueberry varieties to their homegrown berry collection. It’s finally possible to grow blueberries almost anywhere. Try them on decks, front steps or balconies. All you’ll need is a sunny spot and big container.

Bred specifically for home gardeners, these edible berry plants offer year-round beauty and produce delicious full-size fruit. Place them front and center in decorative patio containers or in the landscape for four seasons of color.

“With the trend toward healthy living on the rise, these edible shrubs are perfect for anyone looking to improve their well-being with nutritious fruit right from their own yard,” says Layci Gragnani, program manager for the brand collection.

Blueberry Buckle is a quick growing blueberry that stays compact. White bell-shaped flowers appear in spring and produce sweet, dark blueberries. Its glossy, dark green foliage resembles boxwood. In the autumn you can expect the foliage to take on hints of orange and red. This is a low water, low chill* variety that is perfect for gardens in warmer climates. Plant in patio pots or in the landscape. Zone 6-10, 2-3’ tall.

Southern Bluebelle will be a charming addition to your patio or landscape. This petite, low-water and low-chill* blueberry plant displays bright red, emerging foliage that turns emerald green as it matures. This variety produces plump, juicy blueberries in late summer. Perfect for small space gardens or patios in warmer climates. Zone 6-10, 2-3’ tall.

Things to note about the Bushel and Berry Collection:

• All Bushel and Berry blueberries are self-pollinating and do not require another variety to be planted near-by to produce fruit.
• Grow them in acid soil. (A rhododendron/azalea formulation is perfect.) Incorporate some peat moss around the top of the container if available.
• Plant them in full sun in a large container (at least 14 inches in diameter) with a drainage hole.
• Feed in early and late spring with a granular or liquid acid fertilizer. Rhododendron/Azalea blends are perfect.
• Prune once fruiting is complete. Remove canes that have fruited, leaving new canes to fruit the following season.

*Low-chill blueberries will thrive in areas that don’t have temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit for extended periods of time. If you live in a warmer climate, a “low-chill” will grow best for you.

For more information about the collection visit: http://www.bushelandberry.com.

Those looking to improve their mind, body and soul need not look any further than their own patio or yard. Homegrown berries are nutritional powerhouses. They are low in fat and have high concentrations of antioxidants, which help protect our bodies from the damage caused by harmful molecules called free radicals.

All berries are loaded with fiber, a nutrient important for a healthy digestive system and one that may also help control blood sugar. Berries may even help manage diabetes. Blueberries, for instance, have a low glycemic index, meaning that they’re less likely to cause blood sugar spikes compared to other carbohydrate foods. Just one serving of blueberries contains almost 25 percent of the daily recommended requirement of Vitamin C.

The antioxidants found in blueberries and blackberries, called anthocyanins, may even help keep one’s memory sharp. And raspberries contain ellagic acid, a compound with anti-cancer properties.

For a nutritional packed punch right at your fingertips, add a trio of berry bushes to your garden that includes blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. The easy-to-grow Bushel and Berry™ collection includes compact-sized plants that offer exquisite beauty and lots of flavor. Small space gardeners can plant these plants in containers for an element that is just as functional as it is beautiful and edible to patios or balconies.

Plus, the benefits of gardening are endless in themselves. Caring for berry bushes and plants encourages outdoor activity and helps to reduce stress levels, which can help prevent a number of lifestyle diseases including diabetes and obesity.

Top Berry Bushes to Plant

Add all three berries to your yard or patio for fresh harvests with essential health benefits. 

Baby Cakes®, a thornless and easy-to-grow blackberry bush, grows to be about 3-4 feet tall. It’s perfect even for households with children with tiny hands. In most regions, Baby Cakes will produce sweet berries twice in one season. This plant is just as decorative as its fruits are edible — add it to your patio or entryway in a container to brighten up your outdoor space. Grow in full sun in zones 4-8.

Raspberry Shortcake® is a revolutionary thornless dwarf raspberry that grows to be 2-3 feet tall. It produces mid-summer fruit that has a sweet, traditional raspberry flavor. Raspberry Shortcake is compact, with a rounded growth habit and thrives in a patio pot or in the landscape. Perfect for children and adults, this carefree nutritious raspberry requires no staking or big garden spaces. Grow in full sun in zones 3-9.

Pink Icing® blueberry is a four-season showstopper that grows 3-4 feet tall. Spring brings a lovely new foliage color that has varying shades of pink mixed with blue and deeper greens. In winter, Pink Icing’s foliage takes on a stunning iridescent turquoise blue foliage hue. Perfect for small spaces on patios or decks, Pink Icing has a slightly spreading habit. Enjoy its large, sweet berries during mid-summer. Grow in full sun in zones 5-10.

Bushel and Berry™ is a collection of easy to grow, exceptionally beautiful and delicious berry plants for the home garden. With 7 stunning and easy-to-care-for varieties to choose from, this collection is revolutionizing the way we bring food to the table. Learn more by visiting www.BushelAndBerry.com.

With the trend toward healthier living on the rise, blueberry plants are perfect for anyone looking to improve their well-being with nutritious fruit right from their own backyard or patio.

Dwarf blueberries that can be planted in a container make growing fresh fruit simple and easy. Readily available at your local garden center, these plants are perfect if you are looking to grow your own food that tastes good and also packs a nutritional punch.

Packed with health benefits, easy to grow and compact blueberry shrubs are quickly becoming a staple in every garden.

Here are four reasons to plant some ‘blues’ on the patio this year:

1. Grow blueberries for health: Blueberries pack a big punch in a small bite. They’re nutritional powerhouses packed with high concentrations of antioxidants that help guard against cancer and heart disease. Just one serving of blueberries serves up almost 25 percent of the recommended daily intake of Vitamin C. As a low-GI fruit, blueberries have a favorable impact on regulating blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes.

2. Grow blueberries to maximize small spaces: Dwarf blueberry shrubs are the perfect fit for containers on the porch, patio or balcony. Make the most of tight spaces by growing blueberries and keep fresh, nutritious fruit nearby. Make small spaces shine by trying Pink Icing™ blueberry with its breathtaking spring and fall foliage and large, mid-summer sweet berries. Plus, these bushes are self-pollinating, so only one bush is needed to produce fruit.

3. Grow blueberries for style: One plant can produce beautiful flowers for spring, juicy fruit in summer, breathtaking fall foliage and colorful winter branches.

4. Grow them for the kids – Little hands love digging in the dirt and harvesting their own blueberries. Packed with flavor and heart-healthy benefits, these little dynamos are a childhood favorite. Not only is growing blueberries with kids a fun experience, but it’s also rewarding. Let children partner with Mother Nature to learn how to explore and discover.

With vibrant hues of blue and sweet flavors, no summer fruit is better known (or better for you) than blueberries. These blue wonders play a vital role in health and well-being. Plant a blueberry bush today and get ready to pluck some fresh berries.

About Bushel and Berry

Bushel and Berry™ is a collection of easy to grow, exceptionally beautiful and delicious berry plants for the home garden. With 7 stunning and easy to care for varieties to choose from, Bushel and Berry™ is revolutionizing the way we bring food to the table. Learn more by visiting www.BushelAndBerry.com.

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Look for a new collection of edible berry plants from the folks who introduced The Knock Out® Family of Roses and Drift® Roses. Star® Roses and Plants is launching their new Bushel and Berry™ Collection, formerly BrazelBerries®, this spring at garden center retailers nationwide.

The Bushel and Berry Collection makes growing fresh fruit simple with a variety of easy-to-grow, low-maintenance container berry plants. These plants are perfect for consumers who want to grow their own food that tastes good and also packs a nutritional punch.

According to Layci Gragnani, program manager for Bushel and Berry, the collection will have a new look reminiscent of the biodegradable berry baskets found at farmer’s markets.

“We are excited to introduce consumers to the new re-brand of the collection,” says Gragnani. “Our new tagline, “Homegrown Berries” will quickly capture consumer’s attention within a few seconds of seeing the product.”

Bred specifically for home gardeners, these edible berry plants offer year-round beauty and produce delicious fruit. Place them front and center in decorative patio containers or in the landscape for four seasons of color.

The Bushel and Berry collection includes seven varieties of berries. The one-of-a-kind thornless dwarf raspberry, Raspberry Shortcake®, is perfect for little hands and the Peach Sorbet® blueberry offers four seasons of stunning beauty. The super hardy dwarf Jelly Bean® is quite a puffball and Blueberry Glaze® is reminiscent of a boxwood with small dark berries. Pink Icing™ has breathtaking spring and fall foliage and Perpetua is a true double cropping blueberry. Finally, new Baby Cakes™ is a thornless dwarf blackberry that rounds out the collection.

“With the trend toward healthy living on the rise, these edible shrubs are perfect for anyone looking to improve their well-being with nutritious fruit right from their own backyard,” added Gragnani.

For more information about the collection visit: www.bushelandberry.com.

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The best way to reverse those winter blues is to get back in the garden. To get you excited for spring, Garden Media Group has released its 2016 Garden Superstars for Spring. This year’s list features delicious edible plants, safe organic fertilizer and innovative gardening beds.

“This season, let someone else do the work for you. These outstanding products make gardening easier and you more successful,” says Susan McCoy, president of Garden Media.

These superstar plants and products are sure to inspire everyone from the beginner gardener to the seasoned plant professional.

Here is Garden Media’s list of Garden Superstars for Spring 2016.

Double Cropper. Double Cropper. Plant BrazelBerries’® new Perpetua™ in the landscape or garden for a true double-cropping blueberry that sets one crop of delicious fruit in mid-summer and then flowers and fruits a second time to provide ripe fruit in the fall.

This landscape beauty is somewhat vase-shaped, growing upright to 4’-5’ tall. The leaves are a rich, glossy dark green and curly or twisted in the spring and summer, turning to deep reds and greens in the winter. New canes are bright yellow and red when dormant, which adds a blaze of color to the winter landscape. Enjoy Perpetua’s mild and sweet berries in the summer and fall. Grow in full sun in zones 4 – 8.

Learn more about Perpetua at www.BrazelBerries.com.

No Measure, No Mess. New, organic liquid fertilizers, Start!, Bloom! and Grow! by Espoma, are safer and healthier for plants. Plus, they won’t leave a fishy smell behind. And because they are liquid, they work immediately to give plants what they need most.

The new, innovative Easy Dose cap makes fertilizing less of a guessing game. Each dose gives a precise feeding of specially formulated nutrients. Simply open the flip-top lid, invert the bottle and release a pre-measured dose of product directly into the watering can.

Find the new fertilizers at your local garden center.

Composter and Garden Bed in One. An African gardening technique to grow food in severe drought and sweltering heat, Vita’s Keyhole Garden is a modern version of this raised bed. By capturing the same spirit, the Keyhole Garden is both a growing and composting bed that turns kitchen scraps and other household waste into rich soil. It uses up to 80 percent less water than traditional garden beds and produces more vegetables in less time.

The Keyhole Garden has a 20-year warranty and is constructed from attractive and rot-proof food-grade vinyl (BPA- free) with stainless steel fasteners.

Learn more about the Keyhole Garden at www.VitaGardens.com.

For more exciting new plants and garden products for spring 2016, visit www.gardenmediagroup.com.

Garden Media specializes in home and garden, horticulture, outdoor living, lawn and landscape industries, offering innovative PR campaigns designed to secure top media placements and partnerships. For more information visit: www.gardenmediagroup.com

The BrazelBerries Collection of blueberry and raspberry shrubs that grow easily in containers or gardens are a snap to care for over the winter with some simple steps.

Most varieties within the BrazelBerries collection can take cooler temperatures and actually need a certain amount of chill to set fruit the next year. The blueberry varieties Jelly Bean and Blueberry Glaze and the thornless Raspberry Shortcake raspberry all are specifically bred to survive during cold months either inside in a protected spot or out in the garden or landscape.

Peach Sorbet and Pink Icing blueberries may need a bit more protection during extreme cold spells. Most plants can withstand more cold if planted in the ground where roots are protected. BrazelBerries varieties planted in patio pots generally need more protection with the roots above ground and less protected.

“Whether you over winter the plants indoors or out depends on your climate. The colder it gets, the more protection plants need,” explains Amelie Brazelton Aust, a second-generation owner of Fall Creek Farm & Nursery. Aust says the key to overwintering BrazelBerries is to keep the roots from freezing and cold winds from drying out the plant’s branches.

Here are some simple tips for different regions of the country to overwinter BrazelBerries both in pots and in the ground.

Whether inside or out, the BrazelBerries blueberries go dormant and drop most of their leaves. Don’t worry. They may look dead but aren’t. While still dormant, prune blueberry shrubs in late winter to shape the plant and remove dead or damaged stems. Remove approximately 1/3rd of dead or lateral stems. While it may seem counter-intuitive, remember that pruning actually encourages fruit set in the spring.

Raspberry Shortcake will go completely dormant and look dead. This is perfectly normal. Wait until early spring to prune Raspberry Shortcake. When fresh green growth emerges from the base of the plant and some of the stems, cut dead canes at ground level that show no sign of green.

BrazelBerries shrubs don’t need much water while dormant, but if planted in pots check them once a month. If the soil is dry more than an inch deep, water lightly but don’t soak the soil. If covered with snow, they’ll be getting plenty of moisture.

BrazelBerries growing in patio pots in USDA Zones 5 and below need to be moved to a sheltered spot when nighttime temperatures drop below freezing – especially in extreme cold spells. An unheated shed, garage, basement or greenhouse works well too.

If the plants must be left outside, move pots together against a protected part of building that provides shelter and pile four to eight inches of straw mulch in and around the pots, but don’t pack mulch against the plants’ stems. Or wrap the container in several layers of burlap or insulating material.

Generally in Zones 6 and up, BrazelBerries in containers can be kept outside in a sheltered place, such as under the overhang of a building or against its north side. Cluster pots together, give them a good watering, and cover them with leaves or straw, or wrap in layers of burlap. Just remain aware of any extreme cold spells and provide any additional insulation or shelter as necessary.

In the warmest areas of the country, where it rarely freezes, BrazelBerries can be left outdoors in their pots year-round.

“I just about ignore them,” says Lynn Coulter of Douglasville, Georgia, a freelance journalist and author. “I leave them where they are, and pile a thick layer of pine needles under, over and around the containers.”

Grown in the ground, BrazelBerries have proven to be tough plants that handle the cold and come back even bigger and better the next year. Freelance garden writer Deb Wiley, from Des Moines, Iowa, grows all her BrazelBerries right in the garden. “I do nothing – nada – to winterize my berries. I don’t even add extra mulch. They even survived last year’s Iowa winter, one of the coldest on record!” proclaims Wiley.

Once spring comes, be on alert for cold snaps and cover plants if frost is predicted. This protects the tender new growth, budding flowers and delicious harvest!

BrazelBerries blueberries Peach Sorbet, Jelly Bean, Blueberry Glaze, Pink Icing and thornless raspberry Raspberry Shortcake were created specifically for the home garden. In addition to the fruits’ luscious flavor, these colorful landscape shrubs are perfect for patios, balconies, decks, or anywhere you want a bit of beauty and a tasty snack.