Shrub · Ericaceae
Highbush blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum
Highbush blueberry is recorded as native to 24 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 587 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Highbush blueberry at a glance
- Native in
- 587 counties, across 24 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 12 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Highbush blueberry is recorded as native to 24 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 587 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 587 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 24 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- Florida 1 county
- Georgia 66 counties
- Illinois 7 counties
- Indiana 16 counties
- Kentucky 35 counties
- Maine 15 counties
- Maryland 2 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 33 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New York 49 counties
- North Carolina 42 counties
- Ohio 24 counties
- Pennsylvania 61 counties
- Rhode Island 5 counties
- South Carolina 21 counties
- Tennessee 45 counties
- Vermont 8 counties
- Virginia 79 counties
- West Virginia 7 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 12 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.7 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- High
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 16 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Early Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Blue
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Ericaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- VACO
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Vaccinium corymbosum (PLANTS symbol VACO).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources