The chance to look closely at the zig-zag branching habit of several old wild highbush blueberries is one good reason to walk around Great Pond in Wellfleet on a cold winter day. That and the fact that the Indie’s in-house wild plant expert Joe Beuerlein is on vacation this week. New stems at its bog-loving feet are wine-colored, and so are the fruiting tips. The older gray-white branches add texture by hosting lichens. The Vaccinium corymbosum here don’t bloom or fruit much in the deep shade of the pine woods that have grown up around them, but cultivated versions do in our sandy soil, as long as they get regular watering.
