That's great!! I hope they arrive nice & do well. I'm so dissappointed that you didn't find any around here.

I don't know if A. alnifolia is well-suited to z7 LI. This species is grown more in Canada and the Midwest due to to its cold hardiness and ability to produce commercial crops. I don't think it likes the heat of your area, though it's very cold hardy. If you want a low form, you might try Amelanchier stolonifera, A. nantucketensis or even Aronia melanocarpa instead.

The two nurseries I ordered them from are located in Virginia and Arkansas. If they can take the heat there, they can take the heat of a Long Island Summer.

http://www.forestfarm.com/search/search.asp?aPage=1&index=common&field-keywords=serviceberry

shipping is expensive, (but not jacked up) I buy tubes to save on shipping but bigger plants are not too bad.

Here is a link that might be useful: forest farm

good luck with them... i had wanted to plant a serviceberry but i didn't look too hard. just kept telling myself i'd get one if the bbg sale had a suitable variety at a suitable price. damned if i'm paying alot to ship a tree for a rental yard! the local places may restock closer to planting time in the fall, though. this heat would be pretty rough on a young tree for getting shipped and trying to get established. but i gather they are pretty hardy (seems like the perfect city tree to me, i'm surprised no one carries them). sounds like you must be out on l.i.....no metro gardener would have room for all that and still have space and sun for a veggie garden! :> lucky you! enjoy.
chris

Hello Chris in Brooklyn--

Yes I am on Long Island. Nassau County on the North Shore really close to the water. I am lucky to have a nice yard and although its not really large, it seems to have room for the things I really want!!!

I lurked on Garden Web on and off for years and all last Winter. So when I decided to sign up so I could post I used newyorkrita as my username because I figgured this was countrywide. At the time I had not discovered the Metro forum. Plus newyorkrita was a username that was familiar to me and easy for me to remember as I have used it in other topic forums and used to use it years ago in a reptile chat room I frequented.

As far as the serviceberries go I have been doing some research since I first decided this was something I could add to my yard both to attract backyard berry eating birds and have fruit for myself. So even if I did find a serviceberry locally, and that seems unlikely considering the fact that most local places haven't even heard of them, the chances are pretty good that it wouldn't be the species or cultivator I wanted.

The Genus Amelanchier (Serviceberry, AKA Juneberry, Saskatoon and Sarvisberry) has many Species divisions and that's where the differences in height and form come in. I did order one I am using as a small tree but have steered clear of most of the true tree form Amelanchier Grandiflora. Cultivator Autumn Brilliance grows up to 30 feet, too tall for me. Some others are shorter. Most of my selections are Amelanchier Alnifolia because I could get it in named Cultivators, this way having some clue as to how tall. These are more bushes than trees. The Regent cultivator I ordered from Edible Landscaping grows 6 feet tall and I am putting it at the end of my veggie garden. So I didn't want anything tall to block the view and shorter than 6 feet would be good but that was the shortest I could find. The Honeywood and Smokey cultivators I ordered from Pine Ridge are taller growing and still alittle tall for me but they are for blocking my view of the neighbors so they will be fine. Plus the soil is not overly rich there on the hill where I will plant them, so I am hoping they might not get as tall as 10-14 feet.

Newyorkrita,

I don't mean to be a pain, but I have my Dirr in reach today and I'll quote some stuff to you concerning A. alnifolia:

"...this species and its forms have been ravaged by leaf spot in the eastern and southern United States."

"Zone 4 to 5. Not well adapted to zone 6 to 8 of eastern United States."

I also enjoy the genus Amelanchier and admire your choice to plant such wildlife friendly native plants. It would be a shame, though, if your investment dies in the hot, humid LI summer. I grow A. nantucketensis in my metro NYC garden that I got from Woodlanders in SC and enjoy this suckering, small species. You can also grow the shrubby A. stolonifera which is available from Forestfarm in OR. Both will grow well on LI. Good luck!

My Serviceberries from Edible Landscaping were already shipped on Monday August 12th. So it would have been too late to cancel even if I wanted to do so. They arrived on Wednesday the 14th. Its taken me until today to get the Regent Serviceberries planted, as I had to make a planting bed for them at the end of my Veggie garden. The size of this variety is perfect for me. According to St Lawrence Nurseries, Regent is the most common cultivator of Serviceberry in the USA. According to Edible Landscaping catalog the Serviceberry varieties they sell are "No spray, less care". That would be including the Regent I bought from them.

The Grandiflora is going in a different area of my garden with the Elderberries I bought so I will be working on planting those next. The rest of my serviceberries are coming in September.

I might add that no one were I bought these anticipates any problems with them. Time will tell but I see no reason to be so negative. The planting zones listed for them are 4-8. Raintree Catalog has the Northline Serviceberry rated for zones 3-9, again indicating more heat tolerance. Nowhere does it indicate not planting in zones 7 and 8. These places are not in business to sell customers plants that routinely die, not good business.

Have no fear - I have had Regent Juneberries (Serviceberries) from Edible Landscaping for 2 years in North Jersey with no problems. They are still small bushes, but I did get a few berries this year. I also planted another Serviceberry bush, Smokey - I think, 3 years ago. I got this one from a local nursery, and it was a large bush at the time, around 5 ft tall. I have had 2 good crops from it. Though, this year the birds found them, and cleaned me out before I could pick most of the berries!!!

Well, my Fall Woodlanders Catalog arrived and I see that the nantucketensis is not listed.

You're right, it's not. I did buy the plant from them last year and the year before. Woodlanders is a small nursery that propagates limited numbers of each plant. Perhaps it's in propagation for next year? I would also give Woodlanders a call or e-mail. They may have an extra plant or two laying around. I enjoy the species, plus I think it's quite rare. Conservation through cultivation!!

I forget to mention that I was reading through the new Bill Cullina book on native trees/shrubs and he confirms that A. alnifolia does not perform well at the famed "Garden in the Woods" in Framingham, MA (z6). It seems to succumb to the heat and humidity, but supposedly survives to some degree. Take a look at this book, it's very useful.

Well, I am glad to hear that someone around here grows Alnifolia Cultivators with no problems.

The rest of my Serviceberries that I ordered arrived yesterday. These were The Smokey and Honeywoods I had ordered from Pine Ridge Gardens. Especially nice shrubs, I could not believe how large they are for one gallon size containers. More branching and a denser habit than my Regents but that could be because they are different cultivators.

I have them planted already but placed them in different areas in my garden instead of all in one area as I had originally intended. This would give them slightly different mico-climates to contend with to see which do better. Also, I had originally intended to use them as a screen to block off my view to my neighbors, but I had never seen a Serviceberry before so did not realize it was not a very dense and thick shrub. So instead I will use some Viburnums to block the view and put the Serviceberries in front of were I am planting the Viburnums. That should fix the problem.

There was even a bonus plant added. A lovely small American Cranberry Bush Viburnum that I have to decide on a spot for.

I am still not sure if I will get more Serviceberries or not. If I do I will definitely go for another species rather than the Alnifolia. I have so many Alnifolia that it seems likely to try something else. I promise to keep everyone posted as to the future well being of my shrubs next year. They should flower and produce fruit in the spring. Honestly, if they don't do well, I promise to fess up, then you can say I told you so but I still think they will be fine in spite of dire predictions for the future of my shrubs.

Most of the my new serviceberies have lost all their leaves and gone dormant but two of them still have very green leaves a a fair amount of new growth. Can't wait for next year.

I had originally planned not to get any more Serviceberries, at least until I could see how the ones I have are doing, but I just couldn't resist. So today I ordered 4 Northern Juneberries (Amelanchier gaspensis) and two Allegheny Serviceberies (A. laevis) from Oikos Tree Corp. These shrubs are REALLY, really smal, 3-6 Inches but they were types I simply could not find anywhere at any size. So it takes afew years to have them grow to fruiting size. Meantime I have my shubs from last year that wil bloom for me in the spring.

I'm hoping (against hope?) to grow a serviceberry, probably a. stolonifera, on a protected balcony this summer, and I'm ordering from St. Lawrence nurseries (www.sln.potsdam.ny.us), who grow their trees organically. I'll report back on the quality of the plant and how it does!

Jim

St. Lawrence Nursery doesn't have Ferggie stononifera Serviceberry listed this year on their website. I was going to order it myself. So I ordered the Black Nanking Cherries from St. Lawerence instead.

Looks like a good start to the Serviceberries. My Grandiflora hybred has quite a good number of bloom spikes and the first of them is almost open. The Regent Serviceberries are absolutely covered in bloom clusters but they are later than the Grandiflora and not at all ready to bloom yet. I just can't believe how many there are on shrubs I just planted last summer.

My Honeywood have a very small number of bloom clusters that will be later blooming than the Regent. I don't see any bloom clusters on the Smokeys, although they have the most leaves.

I just bought a Amelanchier "Rainbow Pillar" at Roslyn Nursery on Long Island. Its growth habit is very upright and narrow. While I am using it for my side yard (a narrow space) it is also recommended as a hedge.

Lee

All the Serviceberries look really good. Lots of green berries on the Regents and fair amount on the Grandiflora with afew berries on the others.

I couldn't resist and did find some types of Serviceberries I didn't have as yet so I ordered more this spring. Found a place called Oikos Tree Crops, which sells small plants (about 6 inches) but cheeply and unusual varieties. Anyway, amoung other things I got from them this spring more Serviceberries. I bought 4 Amelanchier gaspensis because I had the perfect spot for them, planted them, and decided I liked them so much that I bought 8 more for an area in my yard that I had not finished from last year. This was one of those gardens that I started, got the structure and beds in and some of the plants in but since I did not know what I wanted to do to finish it, I just mulched and left it. I figgured if I thought about it over the winter, ideas would come to me. I had thought of Serviceberry in there, and how great that would be but needed something considerably shorter than the types I already had.

A quote from Oikos Tree Crops about the gaspensis (Northern Juneberry) as follows--

This Juneberry grows wild on the shores of Lake Superior in pure sand. It is extremely productive, covered in 3/8 inch dark purple fruit with nice flavor. Dwarfish shrub to 4 feet. Full sun. Hardy minus 25 degrees.

I have the Catbirds eating the Regent Serviceberries that I am sure are not ripe yet. A few are red and the Catbirds eat some everyday, hopping around in the shrubs looking at the berries and making their selection.

I also put in a nice new row of smaller Regent Serviceberries that I bought localy at Peconic River Herb Farm. They have settled in nicely and all have new growth on them. I am not sure that these will be large enough to bear fruit next spring but they only had them in one size and the price was right so in they went!

The Juneberries I put in from Oikos Tree Crops early this spring have taken off and put on lots of growth. The second batch was planted much later and don't seem to be growing althogh the plants look healthy and fine. Shows me that roots most likely do get established much quicker in the early spring, when its cooler and wetter. I do lots of watering of anything I summer plant though, so I am sure everything will come along very nicely.

Now of course, all the berries of the Serviceberries are gone and the Catbirds are eating the blueberries. All the shrubs look really great. Nice green leaves and new growth.

Hi--I am "new" to posting here, but have read through this for quite some time. So now I'm taking the plunge and contributing. You are all very informative. NYRita I admire you for all the work and research in various plants, esp serviceberry and viburnums.

Anyhow--I have 4 regent juneberries from Edible landscaping. 2 are close to my house receiving morning shade and strong afternoon sun. The soil there retains moisture pretty well. i planted them in April and they've grown several inches already and are nicely green. The other 2 I planted uot in the open, full sun. They have grown too but I can tell they are not as happy, so I will move them to a more sheltered place. All four have survived the shock of going from ice storms to 80 degree humidity with no spring transition. So I figure if they survived that they can endure a lot.

I have 2 serviceberry "lamarckii" from a local nursery that are about 5 feet tall. I planted them in a part shade area down a hill which receives afternoon shade and retains moisture very well. They had some leaf shock from our 90 degree heat wave a few weeks ago. I put a ring of small plastic pots in the soil around each serviceberry with gravel in them to allow for slow 'irrigation'. I water these every other day and the plants are recovering nicely now with lots of green growth. They already had ripening berries on them when I got them. The berries taste pretty sweet and my resident bluebirds love them.

I am very glad that I learned about the Serviceberries and planted them. Truthfully, I had never heard of a Serviceberry, or any of the other names they are called like Juneberries, until I read about them on a Garden Web Forum posting. I then started an internet search on them to learn more. It took me awhile to sort thru all the information, especially of all the different types of Serviceberries, very different heights and growth and were I could get some since last year there were none locally I could find.

Right now, unless I find a Rainbow Pillar, I doubt I will buy any more. Of course, those could be my famous last words and I might change my mind!!!!

All my Serviceberries look fantastic!!!! The Regents from last year are sending up suckers from the bottom of the clumps so they should be fuller next year. Great crop of berries from them this year! The Smokeys are really growing well with deep green leaves. They did not flower this year so I am counting on next. The Honeywoods growing well also, with a fruit or two that soon disappeared. The new Regents are growing like someone gave them blasting powder. All are filling out even more with lush green leaves. Even the Grandiflora is growing.

The gaspensis (Northern Juneberry) from Oikos are coming along. The first four have grown alot, really noticeable when I look to compare them to the eight I got later this spring. Of course, they are still very small shrubs. I think the later eight are busy making roots so I would expect more of a growth next year on them. I did talk to Ken at Oikos Tree Crops and he thought they would most likely start flowering not next spring but the year after. Not a problem for me as I have my other variety older and larger Serviceberries to tide me over so to speak.

If anyone needs Serviceberry shrubs that stay very low, under 4 feet, then check these out. I know that I have them in a great spot were I really wanted Serviceberries but could not plant other varieties as even the Regents at 6 feet would have been too tall. They are really in a flowering garden bed made for the birds and butterflies with Milkweeds, Purple Coneflowers, Mountain Mint, Joe Pie Weed, Ironweed, Globe Thistle, False Sunflower, Monarda, Goldenrod, Catmint and a row of Prairie Dropseed native warm season grasses planted in front of them. Flowers are in back of them and at each end of that particular garden bed. Looks great with the white Milkweeds and the yellow sunflowers in bloom. The Coneflowers are just coming into bloom.

I do also have two Allegheny Serviceberries (A. laevis) from Oikos that I bought this spring at the same time as the Northern Juneberries but potted up until I have my spot for them done. I still have to dig out an old wisteria and some sapling junk growing in an area were I want to put the Allegheny Serviceberry and Chokecherry trees I got from Oikos this spring and the Nanking Cherries I got from St Lawrence Nursery this spring. These...

Well, the two potted Allegheny Serviceberries haven't been doing so well. First one got some sort of hugh gall midway up on the main stem and the leaves started curling up. So I cut it below the problem areas. We will see what happens. The other was growing well until one day last week that I watered it heavily. Now the leaves all have very dark almost black areas all thru them and look absolutely horrible.

All the Serviceberries planted in the ground, both from last year and this year, are doing great, knock on wood!

I just got my Woodlanders 2004 Catalog and they have the A. nantucketensis listed again. Now I am trying to decide if I should get it or not as it is deffinately a type I do not have!!!!

For anyone still seeking serviceberries, I also purchased some from Edible Landscaping and was pretty dissapointed,
I also ordered from Pine Ridge Gardens, and wow, were they impressive. I recieved one plant that was almost three feet tall, and for what, $12.00. Mary Ann there is just the absolute best. Her plants were packed perfectly, and arrived without a brocken twig. Then to top it off, she threw in a bonus Indian Cherry. Impressive ! Kudo's to NEWYORKRITA, If it werent for you, I would never have found Pine Ridge. Also, just wanted to note, My serviceberries made it through the summer heat in Plano Texas, and are doing wonderfully. I even ordered more! Thanks again to everyone publishing on serviceberries, it is not easy to find information on them in Texas. Enjoy Gardening. RT

Rtatum,

I am glad to read such positive comments on your purchase from Pine Ridge Gardens because I am expecting a shipment from them this week. Yep, I am still planting here in Queens NY.

Another Kudos to NEWYORKRITA for sharing her knowledge of Pine Ridge Gardens.

I received box one of two yesterday, which consisted of 2 Service Berry plants (Amelanchier Alnifolia) and 2 flowering dogwoods (Cornus Florida). The plants are decent sized and were very well packaged. I am very pleased.

Spring, at last!!!!I felt like this Winter went on forever and Spring would NEVER come.

The Serviceberries have broken their winter sleep and green leaves are appearing. Not quite to the point where I can be sure if what I think will be bloom clusters really are. I am very impatient to see if the small Regant Serviceberries I planted last Summer will bloom this Spring (I think I see bloom clusters on them but maybe it's just wishful thinking and I jumped the gun). Will find out soon anyway. The larger Regents from two years ago should be absolutely loaded with blooms as they were last year. I am very impressed with the fact that the Regents are so productive.

We will see if the Smokeys bloom this year, they did not bloom last year although they shrubs are not so small. Then also I am hoping the Honeywoods are ready to bloom well. They just had afew blooms last year. Then last but not least are the tiny Juneberry Shrubs I bought from Oikos Tree Crops last year, probably too small to bloom.

Update on the Serviceberries.

This Spring every one of the seven small Regent Serviceberries is loaded with blossums on the small shrubs. The larger Regents are even more full of blossums than last year so I can't praise the Regent variety enough!!

The Honeywood and Smokey varieties that I planted as nice sized shrubs in Fall of 2002 that are also going to be blooming this spring. Not anywhere near the number of blooms that the Regents have. The Graniflora hybred Serviceberry I also planted in the summer of 2002, at the same time as the Regents flowered alittle last year but this year is loaded with blooms almost ready to open. They will be the first serviceberry to bloom in my yard, as they were last year.

The Northern Juneberry (A. gaspensis) from Oikos last year that were really small, are leafed out this spring but no blooms yet. Didn't really expect them to bloom but hoping for next spring.

The potted up little guys haven't broken dormancy yet. Those were the Allegheny Serviceberry that were 6 inch seedlings from Oikos Tree Crops I bought last Spring.

A local nursery I like to go to has Serviceberry 'Rainbow Pillar' and 'Robin Hill' listed on their website that they will have this year. Going to check them out. It's the same nursery that I got the small Regents locally last year.

I'm looking for an Autumn Brilliance serviceberry tree for the front of my townhouse in Brooklyn. I would rather select the tree locally than order by mail. Has anyone seen any serviceberry trees at nurseries this year?
many thanks

I was just at Hicks and they had 'Robin Hill'. It is also a Grandiflora like 'Autumn Brilliance' but I think a newer cultivar. My Grandiflora Hybred is in full bloom today. Looks lovely!

Well, the blooms on the Grandiflora are done. Seems like last nights rain finished them off. The larger Regent shrubs are in full bloom and the small regents are getting ready to open. One Honeywood is blooming, another not yet near opening blooms and the third is just pushing out its leaves now. The Smokeys are far from blooming as the bloom clusters are still tight. There are not many either.

Its a good thing I don't only have the Smokey and Honeywoods because they sure are not making many blooms and berries.

Serviceberries around here are fruiting heavily. My older Regent Shrubs have so many fruits now, I just can't believe it. The small Regents have fruit too, but not much of course, since I only put them in last year. So far I have seen the Mockingbird, Robin and Orioles eating the Serviceberries. The fruit is much larger than they were last year, I think because the shrubs had time to mature. The fruit on the small shrubs is much smaller.
Anyway, there are no Catbirds here this year so I have been able to eat lots of the fruit myself. Last year the Catbirds just about camped out in the Serviceberry Shrubs and would eat the berries all day long as they ripened.

Fruit on the Grandiflora is not ripe yet but I did eat some fruit off the Honeywood Serviceberry. It does taste slightly different from the Regent and not quite as big. I like the Regent better. Really, I think Regents are the best of the shrub Serviceberries and they only grow about 6 feet tall so never get too big. They set an amazing amount of fruit and start at an early age.

Leaves turned nice and gold on my Serviceberries this Fall. They haven't dropped yet but will soon. The shrubs did very well this year and I am sure I will get a great crop next spring!

Well, my Grandiflora Serviceberry has been in full bloom for at least 4 days and the very first of the Regent blossoms are just opening today.

Serviceberry blossoms are definitely part of my spring "mythology" from years spent out at Fire Island in the spring -- it's great that you've got 'em growing in your backyard!

Jim

This was a fantastic year for the serviceberries here in my yard with more flowers and fruit than ever before! All the neighboring birds thought so too as they stopped by everyday to scarf up berries!

All my Serviceberries are in bloom and it looks lovely!! The Regent Serviceberries are going to be LOADED with fruit as usual as the shrubs just keep getting more mature. This year I have flowers on 5 of my Amelanchier gaspensis (Northern Juneberries) serviceberries. This is the first year they have flowered since I put them in. So I am going to be looking forward to tasting their fruit and compairing it to my others!

HI Rita. How are you? That is so exciting about your berry bushes. I've never heard of serviceberries. Do they taste/look like blueberries or raspberries?

And please tell me what is the best source for blueberry bushes, and which bush do you recommend? Do I need more than 1 to get fruit?
Thanks
Maureen

Maureen- See the other thread were you asked about Blueberries, I answered you there.

Serviceberries don't really taste like Blueberries but they are both a very good bird attracting shrub and good for people to eat. The berries look like blueberries but the berries are much milder tasting and lack the punch that a blueberry does. The shrubs look nothing alike. The good part about Serviceberry is that it does not need the acid soil that blueberries do so its an easier fruit for some to grow. Me, I just mix lots of peat moss in my blueberry planting hole and they are fine.

Geez, I remember this old post. My Serviceberries are thriving and going to bloom soon. The Regents are the star of the serviceberry garden, haveing gotten nice and full. My favorites. The Northern Juneberries I bought which were really small when I planted them are about 5 feet high now and covered in buds.

I had to move the Northern Juneberries this spring about three weeks ago. I moved the whole row in that section of garden back afew feet. I figgured they would be really difficult to move but they were easy as the roots were much smaller than expected.