Alder-leafed serviceberry

Family

Rosaceae

Habit

Shrub

Height

4 m

Spread

3 m

Growth

medium

Lifespan

50 years

First yield

after 4 years

Full yield

after 12–25 years

Productive years

30–50 years

Yield per plant

up to 8 kg a year

Yield in cultivation

up to 10 t/ha

Energy yield

850 kcal per m² a year

Hardiness

zone 2–7

Shade tolerance

partial shade

Soil

Sand, Silt, Loam, Clay

Soil moisture

semi-dry – very wet

pH

5.5 – 8

Synonyms

Saskatoon, Junibeere, Felsenbirne

Planned in gardens

6×

Times apply to the northern hemisphere in a temperate climate and shift with altitude and cultivar.

Edible: The fruit ripens in midsummer, offering a sweet aroma reminiscent of apples. It is soft, juicy, and contains a few small seeds in the center. About the size of a blackcurrant, the fruit grows in small clusters, with the finest wild varieties reaching a diameter of 15 mm. The fruits can be consumed raw, dried for raisins, or processed into pemmican. They are high in iron and copper. The leaves can serve as a substitute for tea.

Medicinal: A decoction of the bark is applied externally to treat swellings and body aches.

Other uses: Plants have an expanding, absorbing root system and are utilized for erosion control in windbreaks. Young branches can be twisted into a rope. The wood is hard, straight-grained, and tough, commonly employed for tool handles. Heating it over a fire can further harden it, allowing for easy shaping while hot. Young stems are used in crafting edges, handles, and for reinforcement in basket making.

Site: The saskatoon throws short suckers and forms loose stands over the years; keeping it as a single bush means cutting those suckers away regularly. The limiting factor is not cultivation but birds: the fruit is often stripped before it is fully ripe, so anyone wanting a harvest needs netting or has to share. As a bird-feeding shrub that is precisely its value, and around 30 wild bee species visit the flowers. Late frosts into May can catch the bloom, which rules out frost hollows. A bush fruits for 30 years and more, so the position should be a lasting one. Care: It is self-fertile and undemanding, adapting well to both site and climate, and its frost hardiness of about -34 °C is exceptional. It needs plenty of sun above all for ripening; in shade both yield and sugar content fall away. It is tolerant about soil as long as drainage is good: avoid heavy, poorly drained clay lacking organic matter, and avoid shallow ground. It takes lime well, thriving on anything from weakly acidic to distinctly chalky ground. Little pruning is required — take out old, bare shoots at ground level so younger ones can follow on.

Because species in this genus hybridise freely, seedlings often come out variable; anyone wanting to keep a particular cultivar propagates vegetatively. The simplest route is dividing the suckers in late winter, but only once they have stood for two years and formed roots of their own. They can then be set straight into their final position. Layering also works but takes around 18 months to root. For seed, harvest it green, once fully formed but while the coat is still soft, and sow at once outdoors; hardened seed otherwise takes 18 months or longer to germinate. Plants true to type can also be grafted onto seedlings of Amelanchier lamarckii or onto rowan.

The white flowers open in April and are well visited; around 30 wild bee species have been recorded on saskatoon, none of them specialists. Its greatest value, however, lies in the fruit: the pomes ripening in summer are so sought after by blackbirds, thrushes, starlings and other frugivores that they are often stripped before they can be picked, and the birds disperse the seed in their droppings. In its North American homeland the shrub additionally serves several swallowtail species as a larval food plant, while deer, elk and hares browse the foliage. The dense, multi-stemmed habit gives small birds cover and nesting sites.

Special features: suitable for calcareous and clay soils; Mainly cultivated for yield is A. alnifolia (Saskatoon). A. ovalis is the common Juneberry, and A. laevis also has productive varieties and can reach a height of 6-8m. There are also hybrids; popular with birds; The most productive and sweetest variety is 'Smoky'. Maximum yield is achieved after 12-15 years (15kg).

Western North America: Alaska to California and Utah. The natural range of the saskatoon lies in western North America. It extends from subarctic Alaska across much of western Canada and southward to California and Utah, reaching east into the northern Great Plains. The species covers a remarkably wide altitudinal band, from sea level to around 3,400 metres in the Rocky Mountains, and tolerates correspondingly hard winters. It does not occur wild in Central Europe, where it is planted as a fruit and ornamental shrub and escapes from cultivation only occasionally. In Canada and the northern Midwest of the United States it is additionally grown as a commercial fruit crop.

In its North American homeland the saskatoon grows in floodplains and along watercourses, in the understorey of open, species-poor woodland, and in canyons. It occupies moderately dry to fresh, sandy, gravelly or loamy and often quite nutrient-rich soils on sunny to lightly shaded, cool to cold sites. Its altitudinal span is remarkable: in the north of the range it grows at sea level, while in the Rocky Mountains it climbs into high montane country. The species is correspondingly frost-hardy. It avoids waterlogged and shallow soils, particularly where the water table is high or erratic.