Have A Berry Happy Birthday: Juneberries
My birthday is in June, and I’ve been wanting a Juneberry (also called serviceberry, or saskatoon) for my edible landscape. As luck (or bad luck) would have it, my husband, in his over-excitement at using a chainsaw to do yard work, accidentally chopped down my young loquat tree thinking it was a weed, and told me I could replace it with anything on his dollar. So I chose something I’ve been wanting for a long time. I was a bit wary of getting it because, if these berries were as good as people said it was, why wasn’t it more popular? Why didn’t I find the fruits in supermarkets? But one taste of the fruit and I was hooked. It tasted like a “blueberry” flavored gum I had when I was a kid, which I now realize, because the fruits look similar, that it was serviceberry, and not blueberry. If I had to explain it, I’d say it tastes like a juicy non-tart blueberry, so the sweetness and flavor without the acidity.
I also realized why we don’t find it in the supermarkets more often, and that’s because the fruits don’t keep well, despite being delicious. So all was forgiven in my loquat homicide, when I got not one, but two!
The foliage is beautiful and creates a splash of flowers during early spring, and the fruit ripen in June like its name suggests. You’ll have to fight off birds if you don’t net it though, because we’re not the only one who enjoys it.
My variation, grandiflora, can grow to about 25 feet high, while others are smaller. It is an attractive plant that can be shaped into a tree or a shrub. They do well in part shade, but sun seems to be needed to make the fruits very sweet. They’re drought tolerant once established, and one of the things I like about them is that they don’t need such acidic soil the way blueberries do.
Don’t tell my husband but I plan to buy a lot more of these and plant them all over our property!
Plant Profile
Scientific Name: Amelanchier sp.
USDA Hardiness Zone: 4 – 9
Perennial fruit tree that can be trained as a single trunk or maintained with a shrub appearance. Can grow to 25 feet tall. Drought tolerant, and will grow in part shade. Prolific flowers during the spring, followed by sweet fruits ripening in June. Susceptible to Apple Cedar rust fungus, and birds will eat the clusters of purple black berries if you don’t get to them quickly. Berries are fragile, therefore not often found in markets.
Recipes with Serviceberries
Here are the recipes on my blog that utilize serviceberries, either as a central player or as optional add ins!