If you're looking to screen something from view, you should know that a couple of serviceberries or crapemyrtle is really not dense enough to do that effectively, especially at 40' or so spacing.
You might instead consider something like teddy bear southern magnolia, wax myrtle and numerous hollies.
To answer your question though, the autumn brilliance cultivar is a popular one. Very high maintenance in my experience.

Just curious - why do you consider 'Autumn Brilliance' to be "very high maintenance"? We have a couple of these at the elementary school and we do nothing to them and they seem fine.

Typical of rose family trees serviceberries have a long list of potential pest and disease problems. How a planting looks to a particular party will depend on if it has been hit by something, and how bad it was. I am growing multiple kinds, during a recent year rust got all over several of them and made continued investing in them begin to appear doubtful. However, it did not persist.

Lots and lots and lots of pruning.

And snipping suckers.

Nice trees, don't get me wrong, but upkeep is involved unless you're growing them as a thicket or something like that.

Evidently a case where your mileage may vary. I've had an x grandiflora (no cultivar name) for about 16 years and never seen a sucker. Maybe the rabbits prune them for me. ;-) Any leaf maladies were minor and gone the following year.

GGs right about spacing and what will you do for screening when the leaves fall?

tj

I'm not actually trying to completely block the view, just detract from it. I understand that a tree that is not evergreen or dense is not going to completely remove the exposure on that side.

With that said, I thought a bright red crape myrtle would draw the eye nicely forward. The serviceberry in back is to offer more visual coverage, so to speak. I have also considered a crabapple. I settled on serviceberry because I like the multitrunks of CMs and serviceberry and I think the overall mature shape of the tree is nice. I am concerned about the view 12 months of the year (yes, even when the trees are bare of leaves) and not just during the 2 week blooming period in spring.

Thanks!

"Lots and lots of pruning" sounds like trying to impose a preconceived notion of how a tree should look onto a tree that does not fit it very well. There is nothing inherently found in a serviceberry tree that should call for much pruning at all.

Except for suckering of grafted specimens. Rootstocks used may sometimes try to make their own tops for years and years.

I had a 'Autumn Brilliance' for 3 years and never had a sucker. It was 8' when I left.

It did have the rust issues last year like ron mentioned above...so it was practically defoliated in August.

Favorite asepect of the tree was its fal color...if the leaves can hang on!!

Fall color supposed to be stunning but on site I am using is the same as that of other selections.

I have seen indications that more than one clone is being sold under the name.

My advice is the serviceberry with the fewest pests first, best show second. Same with crabs.

Dan

bboy,
I prune the crossing and rubbing branches. Having to do that quite a bit.

The suckers are root suckers not basal sprouts. Although there are some of those too. They naturally form a thicket so it's doing what serviceberries do. Nothing uncommon or all that unexpected about it.

Yes, if you want to make it have an open form there could be lots and lots of stem removal. As with most kinds of flowering crabapples, the main value of the thing to me appears to be the massed flowers (or fruits). A dense head produces a more solid bouquet.

I know that A. canadensis is shrubby, but wouldn't A. arborea have a more tree-like form? So, perhaps it depends on which one you have. 'Autumn Brilliance' does have A. canadensis as one of its parents, so some shrubbiness is to be expected.

The branches grow every which way.
Branches that will literally strangle the tree if not removed.

Perhaps "the branches grow every which way" spurred on by all that pruning. :-) Just razzin' ya granny. The only branch pruning I've done has been when squirrels break a branch getting to the berries or branch hangs over a path I mow and knocks my hat off. Criss-crossing branches have not been an issue with mine. Watersprouts might pop up occationally but not as often as, say, some viburnums I have.

tj

I bought a large Amelanchier x lamarckii 4 years ago, in early Spring. This may also be the same tree as Amelanchier x grandiflora, from what I understand there is some confusion about names?? Anyway, it flowers beautifully, sometimes makes yummy berries (2 years anyway, the other it didn't fruit well), has an upright growth habit, and an airy canopy that makes it easy to grow perennials and bulbs around the tree. However, it tends to lose the leaves early in the fall, and doesn't have nice fall color.

Mine is multi-trunked and does sucker a little, but isn't a pruning challenge, unless perhaps if you wanted to grow it with a single trunk.

If you have the time to research, I would recommend scouting the nurseries and observing the selections they have during bloom-time, fruiting, and if possible, during the fall too.

As these are relatively new on the scene, mixed reviews are starting to roll out. I'm pleased with the flowers and foliage and form. It's not the showiest tree in the world but like I've said before I'd definitely use them in groupings sort of in the background somewhere. Some companion plants in the front will conceal suckers for a while.

Unless something has happened recently that I have not picked up on, botanists have never resolved the delineation of the wild species of Amelanchier in a way that has been generally accepted. In addition, nurseries use these names loosely and interchangeably. And A. x lamarckii is the botanical name for a cross. Any plant derived from any pairing of the two parent species at any time qualifies for the name:

"Naturalised in Belgium, Holland, NW Germany and several parts of England where it has been variously, but wrongly, referred to the following species: A. canadensis, A. laevis and A. confusa"

--The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs (2002, Hillier Nurseries)

That is just a snapshot of the naming issues found with serviceberries. Plants purchased in North America under any particular species name, including A. x lamarckii could be different from other examples being traded under the same name due to natural variation - in addition to all the mislabeling and wrong species assignments that have occured.