Spring Glory® Serviceberry

If you only have room for one tree in your yard, make it Spring Glory® serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis). Why? First, though it is smaller and tidier than other varieties of serviceberry, it still packs a big punch when it comes to features: it explodes with delicate white flowers in spring, and those develop into luscious berries that start red and turn purple when ripe. They are edible, and delicious, but if you don’t want to harvest them, your local songbirds will happily do it for you. They go crazy for the fruits! Come autumn, the plant blazes in tones of orange, red, and yellow, and the leaves drop to reveal a handsome framework of silvery branches.

As a North American native tree, serviceberry has acquired a number of common names that vary by region, including Juneberry, Saskatoon, shadblow, and sugarplum. Still, “serviceberry” is how it is generally sold at garden centers, and the name comes with an interesting, though unverifiable, origin: its early spring bloom time supposedly signaled to that the ground had thawed enough to be able to bury anyone who had died over the winter. Similarly, “shadblow,” which is used mostly on the East Coast, also speaks to its bloom time, with coincided with the running of the shad fish in rivers. So when you plant a Spring Glory serviceberry, you’re not just planting a beautiful tree – you’re planting a piece of history.

Spring Glory serviceberry is part of the Proven Winners^® ColorChoice^® Trees program.