Amelanchier canadensis or A. laevis (both preferring slighlty acidic soil) tend to grow leggy, either as small tree or as a shrub. I also have A. alnifolia (Saskatoon serviceberry, prefers more neutral soil), that grows very differently, as a shrubby bush, 8-9 ft tall, with lots of suckers. Simply beautiful, with the most delicious berries of the genus I gather!

Rose, would the saskatoon be very invasive because of the suckers. If so, I will just leave loads of room. I think we have very acidic soil here.

My book says it is tolerant of acidic soils. You might double-check on the Net. It suckers quite a bit in my more alcaline soil, but these always seem to run on the very top layer, so they might be easy to contain with a barrier.

Thanks for the suggestions Rose. I'm not too worried about the suckering. I have plenty of space, but I don't want one thing to take over the whole border. I have lots of plans at the moment.

Running serviceberry (Amelanchier stolonifera) is another one that you might want to consider. It stays small (4 - 6 ft) and is supposed to have tasty fruit. Like A. alnifolia, it does sucker, so it would require some attention in that respect.

thanks for the suggestions!

Can someone please tell me how fast Saskatoon Serviceberry grows?

Thanks!

Robin

Although my books say "averagely fast", I would say pretty fast instead, at least one foot a year. They like a good loamy soil mixed with sand.

And BTW, this "Regent" variety is also an Amelanchier alnifolia, so same species than the Saskatoon serviceberry!

Rose and Rita: Thanks for all the info. The Regents sound great. I have a few on order from St. Lawrence Nursery so maybe I made a good choice. I talked to the guy there and he said that those were the best choice of alnifolia that would tolerate the acid soil here. I hope so as they sound wonderful.

So far the Regents are my favorite Serviceberry. Mine have set fruit heavily and I have been eating the fruits right off the shrubs for afew days now. So have the birds!

The canadian and running serviceberry also have delicous berries better than blueberries . 2 of my neighbors tried the berries and loved them! Sarah

Sarah, I just bought and planted both, so I'm glad to hear that.

I planted two Regents last fall,which I ordered from Forest Farm, and they seem happy and healthy. I ammended the soil a bit, because I have somewhat compacted acid clay. They both blossomed and fruited.T he birds seemed to have missed the fruits, so I ate them instead . They were really tasty.

I also planted a Prince William (Amelanchier Canadensis)which developed rust, and a running serviceberry (Amelanchier Stolonifera)which is also doing well in a partly sunny location.The berrys aren't as good though.

The leaves got completely eaten off of my Amelanchier canadensis over the summer which was disappointing. I see amelanchiers recommended so much for beauty. Mine are too young to set fruit but I'm hoping I don't have to spray them to get berries.

I planted several different ones and got fruit on two and three didn't fruit at all. I think they are prone to rust like crabapples. But I am really glad I planted them. I wouldn't spray them though. Sarah

Christie: I found out of the hundreds of young shrubs in my border, amelanchier are the favorite of rabbits. They started on one and when I caged that they moved on to another type, so I ended up having to cage them all. Good luck to you.

Sarah, I think if you have serviceberries near cedars you will get rust. Do you have cedars near them? I think it is spread by the cedar gall.....from what I understand which is fairly little. It might give you something to start your research from though.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I ended up buying all sorts of varieties of serviceberries. I bought mostly straight species (canadensis), then I bought running serviceberry, Regents, Autumn Brilliance, Success. When I talked to St. Lawrence Nursery, they suggested that my soil would be better with the larger canadensis than the shorter alnifolia type. We have more of an acid soil.

I have two eastern red cedars in my back yard the serviceberries are in the front. Although the one stolonifera and canadensis closest to the eastern red cedars bloomed and produced fruit But the stolonifera, arborea, laevis furthest away did poorly. Vonyon I'm glad you got different varieties I'm sure you will be happy with all of them. Christie probably should get the alnifolia since it's a midwestern serviceberry and I think the soil out in the midwest is more alkaline from the limestone.or maybe amend the soil with peat moss. Sarah

The two Autumn Brilliance I bought this spring from St Lawrence are doing very well and look very healthy. I'm looking forward to next year's growth.

John, I too like the Autumn Brilliance. I'm looking forward to them all in the spring. I bought quite a few shrubs from SLN. They were all small when I got them, but they have done quite well. I think that is their claim to fame. I believe the work hard on the roots and then feel the plant will be stronger in the long run. The only thing that worries me about buying from them at the moment is that viburnum beetle.

That's a scary thing. I think it prefers the arrowood more so than the other viburnums I might be wrong though. Sarah

To sarahbn:
Some years, here in Montreal, it did terrible damages to V. trilobums, including mine. Now I don't know if it was my regular treatments with Safer soap for the usual aphids, or some other causes unknown to me, but my trilobum has been free of any viburnum beetle damage for two summers in a row now. And there still WAS damage in the City's plantations, as well as in my own arrowood.

Thanks for the info roseunhip. I have three trilobums and three arrowwoods I lost one of the arrowoods and one of the three trilobums is doing poorly I didn't see any beetles though. So I don't know for sure if thats what killed the arrowood and damaged the trilobum. Sarah

You're welcome sarahbn!
The specific damage of this beetle (Pyrrhalta viburni, I have forgotten the English name) is eating away the full limb of the leaf, so leaving just its "skeleton" (nervures): thus it's much worse than the damages of the "snowball viburnum aphid" (Aphis virbuniphila).
Look it up on the Web: there might be some good, specific treatments. I know that this critter is not easy to see and destroy like aphids are.

It sounds awful! But from what I have read it seems to affect the native arrowood, cranberry and mapleleaf viburnums. It doesn't seem to affect the native nudum,lentago and prunifolium yet. Sarah

Here is a link that might be useful: viburnum leaf beetle

I have a 9 year old serviceberry (A. canadensis) and I noticed orange rust on the branches 2 years ago. The plant has also started loosing most of its leaves by mid-late summer. Will the diseases affect berry production? I don't want to keep applying pesticides. Do I need to cut it down? I had an rust-infected washington hawthorn (removed) and have rust-infected apple trees in the area. Is there a rust-resistant serviceberry? I read in one place that Princess Diana was resistant to rust but no one else (growers, nurseries, etc.) says this when advertizing this plant for sale.

Pankhi: I'm not sure whether or not there is a rust resistant variety, but I have been cautioned to avoid planting cedars near serviceberries or apples. The cedar gall (I believe) spreads rust. I may be wrong with this because I am doing this from memory, but it might give you a place to start researching. It sounds like you have a problem in the area. You could also post this on the shrubs forum. The experts seem to be over there. Lately, this forum is more about animals than gardening, so I think a lot of them have been over at shrubs.

Vonyon and Pankhi, it's true serviceberries, crabapples, flowering quince, hawthorn and alot of trees/shrubs in the rose family are vulnerable to the cedar apple rust. Sarah

Thank you both for your information. I will post my question on Shurbs

Oh my - had no idea there were so many varieties of Serviceberry. Just was recommend that Serviceberry are good shrubs for wildlife.
There are lots of easter Cedar in Nebraska so I will have to deal with the rust along with everyone else I guess.
But the other question is - I have alkaline soil, or at least on the neutral side of alkaline (silty loamy clay).
Any recommendations for that? (its also sort of dry and windy here, zone 5a)
Mary, NE

Mary I may be wrong but I think Saskatoon serviceberry is native to Nebraska it's supposed to be the tastiest berry. I don't grow it so I don't know. I think it should probably do well in alkaline soil since it's from the midwest. Sarah

Mary, From my research, Sarah is correct, the Saskatoon is the best for alkaline soils. You are lucky. They grow shorter (easier to pick) and have a tastier berry.

My Regent Serviceberries were just spectacular in flower this year. Gotta be loaded with fruit. The Mockingbirds, Catbirds and Orioles should be happy!

Does the Regent variety sucker? I bought a little one and would like to put another in my back yard. I was hoping to root a sucker and get anoither bush out of it.

It does sucker from the roots but only after the shrub gets some maturity. Plus the suckers are very close in spacing to the other stems so it might be very difficult to get one dug out without damaging the mother plant.

Hi,

Last year, I discovered a hedge-row of juneberries that were around 7' tall x 4' wide and featured small, blueish berries that were exceedingly sweet; they consisted of a rush of thin branches. They tasted nothing like the Amelanchier canadensis, A. x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance, or the wild A. laevis (I think) I am familiar with.

I have a feeling that these would be A. stolonifera (running serviceberry). I have heard it said that A. alnifolia (Saskatoon serviceberry) will not do well in the Northeast (New Jersey), except for perhaps the cultivar 'Regent'. Is anyone particularly familiar with A. alnifolia and A. stolonifera. I'm looking to see if I can plant a number of A. stolonifera seedlings instead of A. alnifolia and get as good a flavor; I've heard that A. alnifolia is the best serviceberry - yet others say A. laevis or A. x grandiflora tend to produce the best flavor.

Thanks,
Steve

Steve - I think you'll get more replies if you start a new post in the Fruit forum. If your growing serviceberries for yourself to eat rather than just for wildlife, it's nice to have them low enough to be able to net so the birds won't get all of them.

newyorkrita, are you still growing regent juneberries and if so do you still think this is s great variety to plant? I am thinking about adding one or two in my garden.