Shadblow serviceberry
Amelanchier canadensis · Rosaceae
Upright, multi-stemmed, with drifts of white flowers before the leaves in early spring, red-purple fruit in June and fine orange autumn colour.
- Size
- 16½ ft tall, 11½ ft wide
- Zones
- 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part shade
- Flowers
- Mid April to early May
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Anchor
A bed built around shadblow serviceberry
The planner designed this bed around shadblow serviceberry when this page was made: a 30 × 14 ft (9.1 × 4.3 m) English border in zone 6, part sun. It chose the other plants from the 708 that suit those conditions, and says below why shadblow serviceberry stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Shadblow serviceberry × 1, white
- 2 Blue star creeper × 51, blue
- 3 Coral bells 'Firefly' × 21, red
- 4 Blue holly × 1, blue-green leaves
- 5 Garden phlox 'Jeana' × 4, pink
- 6 White mugwort × 3, cream
- 7 Joe Pye weed 'Little Joe' × 5, pink
- 8 Canadian burnet × 3, white
- 9 Wild geranium × 3, pink
- 10 Creeping Jacob's ladder × 30, blue
- 11 Green-and-gold × 35, yellow
- 12 Polyanthus primrose × 38, purple
- 13 Easter lily × 5, white
- 14 Oriental lily 'Stargazer' × 5, pink
- 15 Asiatic lily × 6, yellow
Why this plant
- Part of the bed's structure. Shrubs and grasses keep their shape when the perennials die down. So does blue holly.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 16½ ft it is the tallest plant here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to Joe Pye weed 'Little Joe' (4 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- One plant, alone. A shrub is seen as an object, and needs clear ground around it.
Why now
- In flower for three weeks. From mid April to early May.
- Part of the bed's peak. With wild geranium, creeping Jacob's ladder, green-and-gold and others in early May: 5 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as an English border: 38 of the 43 groups (88%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Neither end outweighs the other: the visual weight is split 47 to 53, left to right. Cool colours (blue, pink and purple) with red and yellow as the warm notes, and white and cream to calm things between them.
The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 4 Good, 1 Needs revision. Its weakest point is height and scale: Heights average about 8 in at the front, 24 in in the middle and 5 ft at the back. Along the back row the heights step up and down, between 4 ft and 16½ ft, and no two neighbours are the same height.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where shadblow serviceberry goes in a border
At 16½ ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is super tall (over 6½ ft).
Its job: anchor. A shrub that gives the bed permanent structure. Planted singly, as soon as the front edge is laid; everything else is arranged around it.
One of the best large shrubs for a small garden: four seasons of interest and no bad habits. Birds strip the fruit within days. It tolerates wet soil.
- A multi-stemmed anchor at the back
- Woodland edges
- Birds and early pollinators
What to plant with shadblow serviceberry
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Christmas fern: its dark green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; low enough (20 in) to stand in front of it.
- Foamflower: in flower together for two weeks, from late April; low enough (10 in) to stand in front of it; happy in the same moist soil.
- Virginia sweetspire: takes over when it finishes, flowering from early June; low enough (5 ft) to stand in front of it; happy in the same moist soil.
Questions about shadblow serviceberry
Does shadblow serviceberry need sun or shade?
Shadblow serviceberry grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day), part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun) and part shade (2 to 4 hours of sun, mostly in the morning).
It wants soil that stays evenly moist, of average fertility, and a good soak in dry spells. It copes with soil that stays wet.
What zones does shadblow serviceberry grow in?
USDA zones 4 to 8. It is hardy to zone 4, which means it survives winter nights down to about −20 °F (−29 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does shadblow serviceberry flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid April to early May. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 4 | Late April to early May |
|---|---|
| Zone 5 | Mid April to early May |
| Zone 6 | Mid April to late April |
| Zone 7 | Early April to mid April |
| Zone 8 | Late March to mid April |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should shadblow serviceberry be planted?
10 ft (300 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 11½ ft (350 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 16½ ft (500 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many shadblow serviceberry plants do I need?
Usually one. At 10 ft (300 cm) across, it is a plant you place, not one you mass. For a hedge or screen, set them 10 ft apart: two plants for a 10 ft run.
In the bed above, the planner used one in one group.
Is shadblow serviceberry poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat shadblow serviceberry?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
What flowers after shadblow serviceberry?
Shadblow serviceberry is over by early May. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Common lilac: from early May to late May, 11½ ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Mock orange: from late May to late June, 10 ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Foamflower: from late April to late May, 10 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems (a recorded partner).
What does shadblow serviceberry look like in winter?
Shadblow serviceberry drops its leaves and stands as bare branches. That is when to see its shape, and to prune it if it needs pruning.
Is shadblow serviceberry good for bees and butterflies?
Shadblow serviceberry is visited by bees, butterflies and songbirds.
It is a host plant: the caterpillars of viceroy feed on its leaves. A butterfly can only lay its eggs on its host plants, so these do more for it than any nectar flower.
It is native to the United States.
More Amelanchier
- Saskatoon serviceberry Amelanchier alnifolia
In these guides
- Plants for wet soil and rain gardens
- Deer-resistant plants for shade
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Pet-safe plants for shade
- Native plants for shade
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants for bees
- Plants that feed garden birds
- Plants for a white garden
Every fact on record
- Type
- Shrub
- Size
- 16½ ft (500 cm) tall, 11½ ft (350 cm) wide
- Plant
- 10 ft (300 cm) apart
- Height class
- Super tall (over 6½ ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back
- Flowers
- Mid April to early May; dense clusters; white
- Leaves
- Medium texture, deciduous; green
- Shape
- Upright, spreading
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun, part shade
- Soil
- Average, evenly moist
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Rosaceae
- Comes from
- Eastern North America
- Attracts
- Bees, butterflies, songbirds
- Host plant for
- Viceroy
- Stands up to
- Deer, wet soil
Checked against NC State Extension and VASCAN (plants of Canada). Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.