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The superfood that dressed in pink 💖
Family: Ericaceae · Pot diameter: 13cm · organically grown · Height: approximately 45cm
Vaccinium ‘Pink Lemonade’ changes the familiar picture of a blueberry, with fruit that ripens to glowing pink instead of blue. Its mild, sweet flavour adds an unexpected touch to a bowl of fruit, a dessert or the first picking straight from the branch. Before the berries arrive, small pink-white flowers mark the new season. This is a cultivar with a distinctive personality, combining the curiosity of that first taste with the pleasure of fresh fruit grown at home.
Its upright, branching form adds height and lightness to an acid-loving planting, while glossy foliage provides a clear backdrop for the pink berries. Later, warm autumn tones continue its ornamental presence even after the harvest has finished.
‘Pink Lemonade’ stands out before it is tasted and wins you over completely with its sweet, unusually gentle flavour.
Colour changes clearly from green through pale to deep pink, helping you recognise fully ripe berries.
Ripe berries are sweet, mild and lightly floral, excellent alone or over desserts.
Pink-white spring blossom and warm autumn colour keep the plant attractive beyond harvest.
Why you will love it: It is a rare case where unusual colour is matched by genuinely delicious flavour and an elegant habit.
Give it morning sun, or full sun in a cooler area, with light afternoon shade where summers are very hot. In a large container use ericaceous compost only.
Three acid-loving plants create layers of foliage and flower without crowding the shallow roots.
Sun or bright partial shade; protect roots from fierce reflected heat.
Even moisture with low-mineral water, without waterlogging.
Very good winter hardiness; containers need protection during prolonged freezes.
Wash fully ripe fruit before eating.
Plant only in ericaceous compost at about pH 4.5–5.5. In lime-rich ground, use a large container so roots remain in the correct conditions.
Water as the surface begins to dry, preferably with rainwater or another low-mineral source. Never allow the root ball to dry completely.
Maintain 6–8 well-spaced stems and an open centre. Support only a branch that bows under its load.
In spring use an ericaceous feed according to its label. Small regular doses are safer than one heavy application.
Keep roots cool with pine bark and protect the container from fierce reflected heat. Foliage needs light, while roots must not overheat.
Check pH regularly, remove dead or crossing wood and water at the base so foliage dries quickly.
For good fruit set, grow it with a different rabbiteye-type cultivar that flowers at the same time. Its particular ancestry means that an unspecified highbush blueberry is not a suitable general recommendation.
Berries ripen gradually from late summer as pale pink deepens and the fruit softens slightly.
Pick only deep-pink berries that release with a gentle twist. Leave pale-pink fruit to sweeten on the bush.
As fruit begins turning pink, stretch netting over a separate frame so it does not touch the berries.
After planting: maintain even moisture and let the shrub establish before removing only dead or broken twigs.
Late winter, before new buds open
‘Pink Lemonade’ needs light pruning. During the first years build an open upright shrub; later remove at the base only one or two of the oldest, least productive branches.
Action: Remove only broken, dead or very weak growth at the base.
Retain: Retain every strong upright stem and its complete tip.
Action: Remove one crossing branch or a low stem leaning towards the ground.
Retain: Retain 6–8 stems with gaps so light reaches throughout.
Action: Cut at the base one old thick branch producing little new growth.
Retain: Retain younger paler stems that will carry future crops.
Use sharp, clean tools suited to the diameter of the wood.
Remove cut branches and renew pine bark without covering the crown.
Do not do this: Do not shear the top evenly; this removes flower buds and spoils the natural upright form.
The first strong stems build an upright framework while fine roots spread through acidic compost.
Pink-white bell-shaped flowers form green berries that slowly turn pink.
Younger and older stems share an open crown with fruit and warm autumn foliage.
Mature ‘Pink Lemonade’ has an open upright crown, slender productive branches and pink berries at different ripening stages.
Pink colour develops as pigments increase in the skin; the sweetest flavour arrives after the deep-pink stage.
What to expect after planting: The first strong stems build an upright framework while fine roots spread through acidic compost.
In 1991, at Chatsworth in New Jersey, USDA geneticist Mark K. Ehlenfeldt crossed selection NJ 89-158-1 with ‘Delite’. The cross brought complex highbush-type genetic material together with rabbiteye blueberry ancestry.
In 1996, a vigorous upright plant stood out because its berries ripened pink instead of blue. Recorded as ARS 96-138, it underwent evaluation in New Jersey and at Corvallis, Oregon. Its unusual fruit attracted the attention of visitors and nurserymen.
The USDA released the selection in 2005 and named it ‘Pink Lemonade’ in 2007. That same year, it received a “best new shrub” honour at the Far West Horticultural Show. An experimental blueberry with an unexpected colour had found its place among plants valued for both ornamental appeal and edible fruit.
The cultivar has six chromosome sets. Its complex ancestry is divided approximately equally between rabbiteye blueberry and a synthetically derived hexaploid highbush-type line.
The flower’s five sepals remain at the tip of each berry, forming its characteristic star-shaped calyx. As the ovary develops into fruit, the corolla falls away but the calyx persists.
Six practical answers for choosing, growing, harvesting and pruning this exact cultivar.
For good fruit set, grow it with a different rabbiteye-type cultivar that flowers at the same time. Its particular ancestry means that an unspecified highbush blueberry is not a suitable general recommendation.
1–1.5m high and approximately 0.8–1.2m wide, with the habit described above.
Yes, in a container of at least 40–50 litres with ericaceous compost, free drainage and protection from root overheating.
From late summer, once berries are deep pink and release easily.
When pale pink becomes deep, the berry yields slightly to touch and the flavour no longer tastes sharp.
In late winter remove only dead or crossing growth and gradually one very old branch at the base.
