Serviceberries!

 What is a serviceberry?

There are quite a few names for this plant: Serviceberry, juneberry, Saskatoon, and more. And the reason why is that it’s all over the place (it’s native to North America) and the berries are sweet and tasty. They look a lot like blueberries. They start out pink and then darken to blue and then to purple. They do usually have a couple seeds inside.

Serviceberry plants are beautiful!

If you drive up the mountains in the early summer you’ll see serviceberry bushes covered with white blossoms. They are beautiful. Down in the valleys they ripen towards the end of June (so now you know where the name Juneberry comes from) but up in the mountains they are about a month behind.

They are so beautiful in the spring that they are actually commonly sold as ornamental bushes. The nice thing about that is that you are likely to find them for sale wherever you usually get plants and trees. And I’ve found that even the ornamental varieties are tasty.

The white flowers in these pictures from my mountain drive are serviceberry bushes.

Which variety should I get?

Of course the varieties that have been bred specifically for fruit are supposed to be the best. But I think the best one I’ve ever tried is just from an old bush up in the mountains.

It’s a little complicated to just say which is the best variety, because there are multiple species that are called serviceberry. So you have to decide which species is the best and then which varieties within that species. And they all have similar flowers and similar looking berries, so I can’t tell just by looking at them. I’ve searched a bit for which ones taste the best and so far I’m still uncertain, but the two that I decided to go with are ‘Northline’ and ‘Smokey.’ I still eat the berries of my ornamental ‘Regent’ bush too though. My plants are all still young but when they are mature I’ll decide if one is really superior.

Birds want to eat the berries too.

The birds will love the serviceberries as much as you do, so you may have to throw some bird netting over your bushes when the fruits are pink. I’ll tell you from experience; it’s so disappointing to wait day after day for your few fruits to ripen only to have them all suddenly disappear. So be ready to use some form of bird deterrent.

When it looks like this, get out your bird deterrent.

Serviceberries are my top plant that I recommend to people interested in growing something that's utah-tough and has delicious berries. Plant one!

Do you love serviceberries? Are you going to try them? Do you know the best variety? Tell me in the comments!