I just happened to be passing through and, seeing this, HAD to comment. I live in Utah, and since we just bought this house some four months ago, I was excited to start gardening and landscaping(though husband said not this year, first need to pull the other stuff out first. lol ;) ). I also heard this, and, loving the idea of bushes that looked cute and were useful, was planning on doing it. Until I talked to the local nursery.

APPARENTLY, blueberries demand acidic soil. In Utah, we have clay type soil, which is alkaline. They said, were I to try to grow blueberries, I'd probably have to add stuff to make the soil acidic at least once or twice a year. Even saying that they sounded like the conversation was done. Not in a rude way, but in a, "I know you're new to this stuff, so with our years of experience, we're trying to save you tears and frustration." haha But yeah, they said they(being a few people I've talked to), hadn't really known anyone who kept blueberries going around here.

SOO...my point is, know what kind of soil you have first, and then go from there. Another I had dreamed about was cranberries, as they can be a pretty ground cover, or trained to fences. They too are pretty by holding berries into winter, so you see the red against the white snow. But they too demand acidic soil. Just some advice from someone whose dream was broken. heh ;)

I put a row of blueberry bushes in my front yard. The have interesting shape flowers. I don't know why people classify landscape plants or none land scaping plants. I think every plants can be landscapable. Beauty is in the eyes of beholder, which is yourself, as long as you are happy with what you planted, where you planted, you shouldn't worry too much about the classification.
Regarding the soil, blueberry does require acidic soil to be grown in idea condition. You may add peat into the soil as well as coffee ground, if your family drinks coffee every morning. There is no better way to recycle coffee ground than to add it back to the soil.

When blueberries are happy and properly pruned, they are nicely shaped shrubs with beautiful flowers and fall color. However, as the others have said they really do need acidic soil. If your natural soil is not very acidic, you may need to plant them in big containers. Sunshine blue is a good variety for container planting.

Shelley:
You may have already planted the bushes and my 2 cents come too late.

If your goal to plant blueberry bushes in the front yard is for landscape only, what you plan to do is fine. However, if you want actually to get berries some day, you have think about how to compete with birds in the front yard.
I have 4 mature blueberry bushes in my backyard. If I don't put up protection during harvest time, there won't have anything left for me. Blueberries rip during a long harvest window. I use the lightest row cover to cover the bushes. Let me tell you, it's not a pretty sight and I won't want that in my front yard. I did tried bird netting and found out it does not work without a good support frame.

Hi,

I am a bit late to the party, but I can verify the fact that blueberries make great landscape plants. For example, I have seven varieties in my yard as landscaping right now. Elliott, Chandler, Sting Ray, Duke, and Blue Crop are all in my 10,000 sq ft front yard (sadly I sold the house and am moving in a week). I live in Washington State, and the army reserve base has 12 or more evergreen blueberry they are using as landscaping who's common name is evergreen huckleberry (but it's scientific name starts with vaccinium making it a blueberry according to wild food author John Kallas who has a Doctorate in botany.).

My wife went through the local Taco Bell here in Vancouver Washington and they had two varieties of cultivated blueberries as landscaping and the native evergreen variety I mentioned above. The business part where I get my hair cut also has cultivated blueberries as ornamental shrubs in their parking area.

The fall colors my blueberry bushes provide is exquisite. The fruit is a treat for myself and my family, and the shrubs also attract birds if you're a bird lover. I cannot recommend them enough. They are one of the smartest landscaping plants I put in my yard. Enjoy!!!

I'm in western NC and I have 4 blueberries planted in my side yard. I use pine straw for mulch, and they seem to love that. From my limited experience they grow fairly slowly. If you want them to be pretty for landscaping they will need pruning to keep them in shape, but they do have really colorful fall foliage. I've seen blueberry bushes that were easily 6 feet tall and like other fruit, they draw the yellow jackets into the yard. That could be a concern.

Shelley, I am also in OKC and planning to put blueberries in front this fall. How have your blueberries fared the last few years? Do you have pics? Thanks.

I have very acidic soil and planted half a dozen blueberry bushes of different varieties on a southeast facing slope. I saw it as the beginning of covering this slope with shrubs that would be gorgeous in fall. Three years later, I can't say I'm impressed with the result. The shrubs have grown very little and are frankly scrawny. I would like to hear more from sunidayze about pruning to make them denser as I suspect that is key.