Premier Rabbiteye Blueberry
| Qty | 1-4 | 5-9 | 10+ |
| Price per Plant | $27.50 | $8.00 | $7.00 |
Out of stock
Vaccinium ashei ‘Premier’
The Premier blueberry bush is a popular rabbiteye variety known for its larger berries that consistently ripen early. Considered among the best of its type, the cultivar is ideal for growth across the southern continental United States. Reasonably old hardy and resistant to early frost damage, the Premier variety was released jointly by the USDA and North Carolina State University in 1978. The bush tolerates a higher PH than other varieties (5.0-5.5), and is a vigorous, upright and taller grower for a rabbiteye variety. According to the LSU AgCenter, the name rabbiteye comes from the pink color of the blueberries prior to ripening. The color resembles the eye color of an albino rabbit. Rabbiteye blueberries provide excellent aesthetic value for appropriate landscapes. Springtime offers white and pink, bell-shaped flowers. Flowers transition to pink and eventually blue fruit by early summer. Blue-green foliage transitions to shades of red and orange in the fall. Overall, this display can offer a fun, edible addition to your landscape. It is important to remember that Premier blueberry bushes are not self-pollinating. The bush(es) will require a pollinating variety to produce fruit. Climax or Brightwell are two recommended varieties. Planting instruction can be found at boydnursery.net/arrival-care-notes/.
| Classification | |
|---|---|
| Diseases & Insects | Susceptible to chlorosis (yellowing of leaves) if planted in alkaline soils (high pH); infrequently affected by stem blight, root rot, anthracnose, cane cankers, mildew and botrytis; be vigilant of blueberry maggot, cherry fruit worm, and spotted wing drosophila that may attack the fruit |
| Family | Ericaceae |
| Flowers | Flowers are white, possibly tinged pink or pinkish, urn-shaped, 1/3" long, May, just before leaves have unfolded; borne in axillary racemes in great quantities; berry is green to reddish tinged before maturing to blue-black, bloomy, rounded, 1/4 to 1/2" across; formed in abundance from July to August |
| Growth Rate | |
| Hardiness Range | zone 7a – 9b *need help finding your hardiness zone? |
| Leaves | Leaves are alternate, simple, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, 1 to 3 1/2" long, half as wide, acutish, cuneate, entire, dark green above, paler beneath, pubescent on midrib and veins; short petioled; dark green, almost dark blue-green in summer changing to yellow, bronze, orange, or red combinations in fall; excellent fall coloring shrub |
| Plant Type | |
| Primary Features | |
| Sex | monoecious (Bisexual) |
| Size | 6-8 feet tall at maturity with an equal or greater spread |
| Sun Requirement |
What am I buying?
We sell Premier Rabbiteye Blueberry as rooted cuttings. Taken from Wikipedia, “a plant cutting is a piece of a plant that is used in horticulture for vegetative (asexual) propagation. A piece of the stem or root of the source plant is placed in a suitable medium such as moist soil. If the conditions are suitable, the plant piece will begin to grow as a new plant independent of the parent, a process known as striking.” Put more simply, a rooted cutting is a small clone of the specimen from which it was taken. As a genetically identical clone, the cutting shares all the characteristic traits and attributes of the cultivated variety. Our rooted cuttings are 3-6 months old and 4-8 inches in stem length above the soil line. They are clipped from our private stock plants and grown in root pruning trays at our temperature controlled greenhouse.
When are plants collected?
Once your order is placed, your plants will be collected as soon as the weather permits. This time-frame is normally within 3-7 days. During heavy order periods (April-May), this collection time can grow to 10-14 days.
How are plants shipped?
All shipments are mailed via USPS Priority Mail using PirateShip.com. We only accept orders within the contiguous United States. We monitor national weather conditions and temperatures for shipments. If at any time your order must be delayed for weather concerns, we will contact you by phone and/or email. The day that your order is completed or partially shipped, you will receive an email containing your package tracking number. You can also find this updated information by logging into your account on our website.
