The Polk County Extension Center is continuing to take orders for strawberry and blueberry plants. Small fruits like strawberries and blueberries are well suited for home gardens. Strawberries make a nice border along a driveway or walkway. Blueberries are also valuable as an informal hedge.

The strawberry varieties a gardener may select from for the 2011 small fruit sale are Earliglow and Northeaster. Earliglow is a very early strawberry with excellent fresh fruit and freezing quality. Northeaster is an early to mid-season variety with large berries and excellent flavor.

This year the Extension Center is offering one new Rabbiteye Blueberry variety. Climax and Premier are the early varieties of blueberries. Climax is considered by many gardeners to have the sweetest berries. Premier has a very good quality berry and is the largest fruited variety of the selections. Tifblue is an early to mid-season berry with very good quality. (It is the recommended variety to plant for pollination.) Columbus is an early to mid-season variety and has medium sized berries with very good quality. Powderblue is a late season variety with sweet dark berries. The newest offering is the Brightwell variety. It has medium to large berries with a sweet flavor. When planting, remember Rabbiteye blueberries require two varieties for pollination.

The plant sale has been an ongoing project for over 30 years. The proceeds of the sale benefit the local Extension programs. Orders may be placed at the Polk County Extension Center in Columbus.

For further information, contact the extension center at 828-894-8218.