Genus study - Amelanchier aka "Serviceberries"

[Kanorin]

Are you looking for a bonsai that has...
The ability to tolerate cold (Most can handle zone 4 in the ground...some species can even go colder)
Flowers
Fruit
Nice fall color
The ability to tolerate full sun or partial sun
Bark that roughens up with age

...then you should try out a serviceberry for bonsai. @Leo in N E Illinois has sung their praises and has worked with them for a few years at least. I think this is going to be among the best genus of trees for bonsai from north america. Let's experiment with them and learn more!

I acquired two of these this year.
One I collected from the Ozark area of southern Missouri - likely an Amelanchier arborea
One nursery stock I picked up last week - an Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance.' This one might be grafted based on the leaves coming out of the suckers. I'll post some pictures soon.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

Great timing was scouting around at my cottage found several of these bushes growing on top of granite outcrops . In limited soil most are multi stemmed . Nearby understory trees single stem same leaves . Was thinking the bushes look easy to collect may try a interesting one took pic to wash it thru plant ID app ( no phone service in the woods ) after flowering app says common service berry but I think I have it correctly ID as smooth bark service berry a cold hardy version closely related smother bark and leaves come out copper coloured at flower time native to the area the more I look into the plant the more I like it

 

[Frozentreehugger]

The most famous service berry in Canada is Saskatoon berry or Saskatchewan berry normally a shrub . Native to the prairie provinces. . Never heard of anyone growing as a bonsai . But the fruit has been eaten since before the Europeans arrived. . Makes amazing pies and preserves

 

[HorseloverFat]

The most famous service berry in Canada is Saskatoon berry or Saskatchewan berry normally a shrub . Native to the prairie provinces. . Never heard of anyone growing as a bonsai . But the fruit has been eaten since before the Europeans arrived. . Makes amazing pies and preserves

I killed one of these... Russet Buffaloberries.

I know where there's another, though.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

The ones I have located growing on top of large slab of granite in thin soil pocket and or roots stretching thru the moss covering the rock . I’m going to apply a technic I’ve used before . When I go back you dig up some promising roots close to the trunk and put them in zip loc bags full of soil and leave them sealed on the surface in the sun cover the bags with black tape . DE and peat moss soaked in water with feet works well

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Just about every state in USA, (except Hawaii) and every province in Canada has one or more species of Amelanchier native. They are a great genus. Most flower just before leaves unfurl, or as leaves are unfurling. They don't fully leaf out until after flowering is in full swing. Autumn color is good, yellow, copper and red colors are possible.

I purchased the hybrid x grandiflora because it is more tree like, less shrubby than some of the smaller species. It is sold by most mid-western landscape nurseries. Bought a group of 12 for our Arbor Arts Collective Study Group in autumn of 2014. I kept two, and have them both in Anderson flats with the purpose of thickening the trunks. Upside is they are tough, tolerant and disease free. Downside they are a little slow to "trunk up".

Group of Amelanchier x grandiflora, bought for our AAC Study Group. July 2015, some were worked on right away, some have been allowed to grow on. All 4 pots on the white table are same cultivar of Amelanchier x grandiflora


This next photo is a landscape version of x grandiflora, with mine in an Anderson flat in front of the landscape tree.




Fruit ripens early summer, I often "grazed" on these berries as I would walk the woods, especially in Michigan. Pleasant mild apple - almond flavor. Texture is a bit dry, but for wild fruit its really not bad.

This is from spring 2016


It "got stashed" up at the blueberry farm, now it is back in my driveway, but I have no current photos. Trunks on both specimens started out just under thumb diameter in 2015. Now in 2022 the two I have are only slightly larger than thumb diameter, maybe grew 1/4 inch in diameter over the 7 years. I need to take more current photos.

All in all serviceberry is quite easy to work with. It is like any member of the apple family. Flowers on the ends of previous summers growth. Fruit matures quick, to a dark blue purple for x grandiflora. The other species have different colored fruit from red-ripe to purple black ripe.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

Just about every state in USA, (except Hawaii) and every province in Canada has one or more species of Amelanchier native. They are a great genus. Most flower just before leaves unfurl, or as leaves are unfurling. They don't fully leaf out until after flowering is in full swing. Autumn color is good, yellow, copper and red colors are possible.

I purchased the hybrid x grandiflora because it is more tree like, less shrubby than some of the smaller species. It is sold by most mid-western landscape nurseries. Bought a group of 12 for our Arbor Arts Collective Study Group in autumn of 2014. I kept two, and have them both in Anderson flats with the purpose of thickening the trunks. Upside is they are tough, tolerant and disease free. Downside they are a little slow to "trunk up".

Group of Amelanchier x grandiflora, bought for our AAC Study Group. July 2015, some were worked on right away, some have been allowed to grow on. All 4 pots on the white table are same cultivar of Amelanchier x grandiflora
View attachment 440726

This next photo is a landscape version of x grandiflora, with mine in an Anderson flat in front of the landscape tree.
View attachment 440725

View attachment 440728

Fruit ripens early summer, I often "grazed" on these berries as I would walk the woods, especially in Michigan. Pleasant mild apple - almond flavor. Texture is a bit dry, but for wild fruit its really not bad.

This is from spring 2016
View attachment 440730

It "got stashed" up at the blueberry farm, now it is back in my driveway, but I have no current photos. Trunks on both specimens started out just under thumb diameter in 2015. Now in 2022 the two I have are only slightly larger than thumb diameter, maybe grew 1/4 inch in diameter over the 7 years. I need to take more current photos.

All in all serviceberry is quite easy to work with. It is like any member of the apple family. Flowers on the ends of previous summers growth. Fruit matures quick, to a dark blue purple for x grandiflora. The other species have different colored fruit from red-ripe to purple black ripe.

Great info Leo thanks I suspected slow growth . To thicken trunks . Main reason I am leaning to collecting smaller multi trunk shallow rooted tree . Compared to its parents which would bring big trunk chops and there required healing to bear . Any special advice on collecting or soil . My plan is to add some substrate and fertilizer around a few and possible collect early next spring thanks again

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

No special advice for collecting Amelanchier. Leaves are thin, I would partially defoliate if summer collecting. Best collecting is late winter, early spring. I would not deliberately use native soil in pots. Go with your preferred potting mix right from the get go. Soil attached to the roots when collected is not an issue, but don't collect buckets of "native dirt" and use that, it will be too fine grained and too high in clay content. A good deciduous bonsai mix, sifted to remove fines will be excellent. The several species native to east of Rocky Mountains, North America are not sensitive to minor details of pH, and are pretty tolerant of water quality, so watering with well water in most areas won't be an issue.

I have grown mine in akadama and in recycled kanuma. No problems. Perlite & bark mixes, or Pumice & Bark mixes. All work. DE works if you can find a coarse particle size DE. I think 8822 is too fine a particle for pots larger than an inch in diameter.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I chose Amelanchier x grandiflora (A. arborea x A. laevis) - was chosen because it has a tendency to be more tree like. The two species, arborea and laevis are the most tree like of the genus, the hybrid was an effort to accentuate the "single trunk" nature of these two species.

Some of the species, like A. stolonifera, the running serviceberry, native to Ontario, south to Iowa, parts of Michigan, eastward to Maine, this one forms low thickets, suckering from the roots rather than forming a dominant trunk.

In all of the Amelanchier, you should be aggressive in removing suckers from the roots if you are trying to develop a single main trunk. Most species will cooperate, some like stolonifera and spicata will resist.

 

[Kanorin]

Among the group I collect with, we've gotten 3 arborea over the last 2 years (1 is mine). We are 3/3 for them surviving a late winter collection a few weeks before buds push and then pretty close to bare rooting them then potting them up in pure pumice. Among the 5 species I collected, the amelanchier put out the most buds post collection and seemed to push out the strongest. So from my limited experience (first year collecting), I think they are very easy to collect at least at that time of year.

 

[Kanorin]

This “autumn brilliance” amelanchier has to be grafted, right? Look at the differences in the leaves

Don’t think it’s a low graft



Maybe up there

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@Kanorin - grafting is a high success rate proven nursery technique. Commercial nurseries use grafting because it works, is predictable, and cost effective. Like most apple family members, they can be grown from cuttings, but cuttings require some skill, or set up. Bottom heat, hormones, and good timing, along with a mist bed.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

So some nurseries will have grafted, some will have cutting grown and some will have seed grown. Stay away from named cultivars if you want to avoid grafts. Similar situation with maples. Can't get the commercial guys to do cuttings.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

No special advice for collecting Amelanchier. Leaves are thin, I would partially defoliate if summer collecting. Best collecting is late winter, early spring. I would not deliberately use native soil in pots. Go with your preferred potting mix right from the get go. Soil attached to the roots when collected is not an issue, but don't collect buckets of "native dirt" and use that, it will be too fine grained and too high in clay content. A good deciduous bonsai mix, sifted to remove fines will be excellent. The several species native to east of Rocky Mountains, North America are not sensitive to minor details of pH, and are pretty tolerant of water quality, so watering with well water in most areas won't be an issue.

I have grown mine in akadama and in recycled kanuma. No problems. Perlite & bark mixes, or Pumice & Bark mixes. All work. DE works if you can find a coarse particle size DE. I think 8822 is too fine a particle for pots larger than an inch in diameter.

I have no intention of attempting a summer collection . Thanks for the info like I said small pockets of soil on top of chunks of granite . Some with roots spreading into the moss on the rock . All I am going to do this year is add soil and fertilizer around base to increase collection success and hopefully decrease root ball size collect at end of next winter . May look around the bigger ones for a possible air layer . But they seem fairly leggy and boring . Getting curiosa what exactly version they are

 

[SC1989]

I have seen alot of people mis identify , confusing black cherry and choke cherry for service berry lately. Playing with a couple of each

 

[Frozentreehugger]

I have seen alot of people mis identify , confusing black cherry and choke cherry for service berry lately. Playing with a couple of each

Choke cherry and service berry I can understand but Black Cherry is pretty unique pin cherry and black ok

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

The whole process of adding soil on top of roots, in hopes of increasing root ball seems unnecessary, and possibly counter productive. I would skip the procedure. Just collect, or don't collect. The gymnastics a year ahead won't change your success rate to any significant degree.

At least that is my opinion based on modest experience. I've only collected dozens of deciduous, not hundreds, and only a couple small service berries, many years ago.

 

[Bnana]

In Europe Amelanchier lamarckii has been planted extensively and is common in many regions. I've never seen a bonsai of that species but it's not that different from the species shown here. Is there any reason to some it's less suitable?

 

[Frozentreehugger]

The whole process of adding soil on top of roots, in hopes of increasing root ball seems unnecessary, and possibly counter productive. I would skip the procedure. Just collect, or don't collect. The gymnastics a year ahead won't change your success rate to any significant degree.

At least that is my opinion based on modest experience. I've only collected dozens of deciduous, not hundreds, and only a couple small service berries, many years ago.

You may be right . I have added soil normally not just on top but in the rootball and fertilizer and done the put some roots in bags of soil in similar small amount of growing medium before with some measurable success . But only with conifers not being used to the species and unsure how drastic I can reduce roots to collect . I figured if I’m going to wait till next spring can’t hurt to try and help the plant this year . I’ve never collected mid summer unless you think it is safe . Fall collection had a higher rate of failure for me most likely because of my cold winter storage so I stick to spring but I’m open to suggestions for summer

 

[Frozentreehugger]

In Europe Amelanchier lamarckii has been planted extensively and is common in many regions. I've never seen a bonsai of that species but it's not that different from the species shown here. Is there any reason to some it's less suitable?

I don’t have any yet but I have heard several North American versions have been planted over there . Fairly substantial in the UK according to info I read . Looks like there all very similar just vary in cold and heat tolerance and there willingness to be single stem tree like or more multi stem bush like but Luke I said don’t have any yet . Curious where do you see it in containers or gardens understory plantings