My ‘Autumn Brilliance’ today, 6-16-20, zone 5b, IL. USA
It’s the one with the ladder. I think it’s tastes great. It’s its’ own unique fruit.
@marknmt, see, new fridge : )
(Don’t forget to like this post, folks:)
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I love the “wild” serviceberries from the landscaping at our city hall.
Who knows what variety, but they are blue/purple when ripe. Hmmm…
I want to plant them but I don’t have room for that big guy you have!
I should add - this year and I think last year too, these bushes were stricken with I think cedar rust. The fruits get these crazy whitish spikes on them.
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I didn’t know they could get that bushy. They ones by me are wild and spindly. They’re also not in full sun. Nice tree and harvest, enjoy!
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I 100% agree with @GeorgiaGent and @BlueBerry… mine have been completely ruined by CAR this year and last year. I didn’t know they’d get it until last year and then this year like a fool I forgot to spray them when I sprayed my trees. The fruit get covered with those tiny little spikes/fuzz, but the plant itself doesn’t show much sign of it.
@Barkslip those look great!!!
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Nope, I get cedar apple rust though on a few fastigiate Juniperus virginiana ‘Taylor’ & my neighbor has moved several to permanent landscape positions, but, it rarely gets that bad. I might see a 1/2 dozen on a ‘Taylor’.
I know, no doubts, someday, it’ll be prevalent.
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One of the small bummers of my continuing coronavirus work-from-home situation is that I’m missing out on my morning graze of serviceberries from landscape plants on campus at work. I always grabbed a handful off of one bush on the way in. They must have been seedlings as there are 6 in a row along a building and only one was worth eating off of.
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Likely “Autumn Brilliance” as that is the one landscape architects would probably specify on a blueprint for city hall.
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From my experience, the cultivar known as ‘cumulus’ seems to be worst for CAR.
I’ve noted it on seedling amelanchier canadensis, too, pretty bad.
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Good news!
Any tips on propagating suckers?
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Not if it’s grafted!!
Mine is actually-grafted. The real good propagations are layers, yes.
Dax
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I’m not sure what % you might obtain, but I’d probably try cuttings.
As the limb quits growing in summer…clip the terminal 3 to 6 leaf nodes and try rooting hormone and plant in peat…high humidity or misting.
If you tried enough, bet you’d get a few takes.
I keep meaning to try the ‘toothpick trick’, but life usually gets in the way around first of Aug., when its time to slit and 'pick them, and I forget to do it.
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Nature is so very strange. So get this… I have 2 service berry plants (I have the variety somewhere but its not handy) that are 8 years old. I have never, ever gotten any of them. Each year they bloom and form small berries, but some kind of rust ALWAYS gets them. The fruit get those orange hairs similar to quince/pear rust, then the berries deform and drop… I usually spray them (myclobut and captan) but it never saves them. To be fair, I haven’t worked a good schedule on them.
Anyway, this year I lost all my stone fruit to frost, so I haven’t sprayed anything, including my service berries. I don’t pay much attention to them as they are on the outer edge of my orchard. Today I’m mowing places I only mow a couple times a year, and I drive by the service berries and BAM!!! THey are absolutely loaded with good, healthy, ripe fruit!!! (Well, about 30% is ripe). I can’t believe it.
There have been other years I didn’t spray them, most years I do, but the point is there is no explaining why all of a sudden this year they are producing like wild! Having never even tasted one, I also must say I couldn’t be more happy with how good they are. Sort of a cross between sour cherry and blueberry I guess? Sweeter than sour cherries, more tart than blueberries. I love them!!!
There is just no understanding nature sometimes! ha.
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There is nothing better for fresh eating than serviceberries.
Glad you beat the birds most of them!
CAR is a problem for them in some seasons for certain.
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I agree on them bei9ng wonderful for fresh eating! I’ve also heard of people planting them mostly just for attractiveness in landscaping, and I can kind of see that- they are pretty. So yea, everyone should consider them as a good way to beautify your yard and also get some tasty fruit!
btw…I think the reason birds didn’t get them all is that they are near my Romance Cherries which are also ripening now. Birds absolutely wear them out!!! ha.
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Better check your trees (before the birds get 'em)…I ate 3 or 4 yesterday that started to turn purple (another 3 days to total ripeness probably…but they’d be missing from the tree most likely by then!)…very very tasty even less than fully ripened.
Are there any varieties that are resistant to cedar apple rust? We have juniper everywhere around here and the hot and humid climate turns the disease pressure up to 11, but I’d love to try a serviceberry if I can.
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The leaves certainly look like it. Lack of berries this time of the year is a bad sign. I’m not familiar with wild varieties but cultivated ones thend to grow tall and more straight. Is it in full shade? That would explain stunted growth and lack of berries.
My northline had been hit twice with some sort of plum curculio (I guess Saskatoon curculio). About half of the berries or more get hit and mummify in the bush. I need to spray it this year after flower drop.
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