Saskatoon / Juneberry / Serviceberry taste

[It never rains..it pours]

Having read historic threads it seemed a lot of you were planting these a couple of years back and I was after some honest opinions (ie not plant sellers online) of what these tasted like fresh now you were getting fruits. As Im keen to add a new fresh eating fruit plant and these seem relatively low hassle like black currants. The variety options I can obtain seem to be Smokey, Martin, Northline or Thiessen

[burnie]

Not tried those, but the Honeyberry is a big disappointment, I think some of these are a bit of a gimmick really.

[nickdub]

I've got an amelanchier canadensis about 12 years old, 15 ' tall - v pretty tree, and the birds like the berries a lot, so far leaving none for me to try.

[It never rains..it pours]

Burnie thankyou, I eliminated honey berry on taste having read some threads on here, etc

Nickdub thank you, I have read they can be limited to 6ft for quite a few years if pruned well which suits the planned site. Good to know they are a pretty tree/bush and as you have a lot of fruit options, the birds taste test is quite a good guide. Here they take blueberrys but leave blackcurrants, raspberry, strawberry, etc, alone

[nickdub]

You're very welcome.

My amelanchier and the one next door, look spectacular now with their burgundy red leaves - it might also be observed that they seem to "thicket up" naturally, with many stems/trunks coming form the base - I've bent one over to layer it.

[It never rains..it pours]

Thank you Nickdub, sounds like I might be able to sell the idea of these going on the flower side of the garden

[chrisdb]

I have a 'Northline' Saskatoon, which is a variety bred for large fruit in Canada. The fruit is pleasantly sweet but a bit bland, with a bit of a mealy texture. They're marketed as blueberry-like, which to be honest is perhaps true: I find a lot of blueberries sweet but bland as well.

By the way, if you want some of the fruit you have to be prepared to net part of the bush. This plant is second only to cherries on the birds' target list. Size-wise, it suckers (and I suspect would happily form a thicket eventually if not controlled), but the Northline variety at least is not particularly vigorous in the upwards direction. It's shorter than me after many years in the ground.

[chrisdb]

I also have an 'Obelisk' Saskatoon, bred for ornamental use instead of berries, and the berries on that are much smaller and less sweet. They remind me of peas.

[It never rains..it pours]

Thank you Chrisdb, very helpful information

Only independant information I have managed to find on varieties is below on page 17

https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$Department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex14362/$FILE/238_20-2.pdf

[veggiechicken]

Have you seen the PFAF info about the various types of Amelanchier?

https://pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?Lat...hier+alnifolia

[It never rains..it pours]

Thank you VC, not sure if the medical uses will come in useful or not

[chrisdb]

Thank you Chrisdb, very helpful information

Only independant information I have managed to find on varieties is below on page 17

https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$Department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex14362/$FILE/238_20-2.pdf

No problem. All I can say is that I agree about the yield and the sweetness for Northline, but mine isn't hitting 4m tall anytime soon.

One final thing: mine was a bit slow to establish. It basically didn't grow in the first year and I was a bit worried it might pass away. The second year it grew a bit, and the year after that there was more growth and it started suckering like crazy.