(5yr Native Tree Challenge) Tum's Amelanchier x grandiflora (Serviceberry)

[Tums]

Amelanchier x grandiflora is a natural hybrid of two other serviceberries that are both native all throughout Massachusetts, Amelanchier laevis and Amelanchier arborea (range link). They have white spring flowers, summer fruit if the birds don't eat them immediately, and great red/orange fall color. Many of the pictures of Amelanchier are more shrubby or multi-trunked but they can be trained with a single trunk.

I ran across this Autumn Brilliance cultivar at a nursery and thought the trunk movement/surface roots were promising. Hopefully it will thicken up over the next couple years. Since I'm moving very soon, I'm missing the time to repot for the year but seeing as the tree is not quite secure in the pot I bet it's not rootbound yet. I'm thinking about doing a summer chop to the rightmost trunk circled in red after the leaves harden off and just burying the pot in the ground at the new house until I can work the roots next spring. There's some additional dimension to the tree that wasn't captured in this godawful phone picture.

 

[Tums]

End of season update: not much to report for this one. Fall color was a nice orange-yellow at least. The rabbits have (un)helpfully pruned any lower branches so the chop next year will just be blind.

 

[Tums]

Chopped this about a month ago because I confused the flowers opening for the leaves and panicked. Looks like it's budding out all over now though. This photo is from two weeks ago.

 

[Tums]

Bushed out all over, so I picked some branches last week. Seems very healthy except for what looks like a bit of powdery mildew. Later, I decided to go back and cut the upper two branches to try and keep them from thickening too much (not in the photo).

 

[Tums]

Here's where we're at this spring. Need to keep a better handle on the top branching and start wiring, I think. Hoping for strong growth on the lower branches but the buds seem a bit behind. Definitely need to repot into the final pot next year, or maybe this year if I can get around to it.

 

[Tums]

Oh, I just remembered that I also left it in the flat because I cut two sacrificial branches and made some big wounds that need to heal over.

 

[Tums]

Nice fall color despite all the rain we've been getting (bottom right). Will make the jump to a nice pot next year. Not super happy with the apex but can't complain since I haven't been paying much attention this year. I think it has a good shot of popping out some new branches in the right places if I keep on top of pruning next year.

 

[Tums]

Do or die moment earlier this week. Spent a couple hours trying to get all the years-old gunk out from next to the trunk. Potted into akadama/pumice in a dark red Sam Miller oval that I got from the club auction last year, which was the best-sized American pot I had on hand.