Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia) Honeywood 1L

General description: Honeywood is a fruiting shrub which grows up to 5 m high and about 5 m wide. It can be found in gardens, urban greenery, as well as in forests and river valleys. It’s very popular due to its low soil and maintenance requirements and its delicious fruit.

Flowers: Saskatoon flowers are dioecious i.e. they have both male and female organs. They are small, slightly fragrant, and grow in erect clusters. During blooming, the petals do not overlap and are strongly elongated. The flowers are about 2-3 cm wide and grow close together in numbers of 20-30.

Blooming: The blooming period lasts from seven to ten days. Come spring, flowers develop earlier than leaves.

Leaves: Saskatoon are deciduous, dropping leaves for the winter and growing new foliage in spring. The leaves are quite stiff, oval, 3-5 cm long, coarsely serrated. Fresh new leaves are tomentose (hairy) on the underside, mature leaves are glabrous. Honeywood leaves are green in spring and turn purple come autumn.

Fruit: Honeywood bears spherical fruit (pomes) up to 13 mm in diameter. They are black or purplish black in colour and are juicy, sweetly-sour in taste. They’re often compared to blueberries. They are great for making into jams and marmalades, syrups, and tinctures.

Cultivation requirements: This shrub can be used to improve the state of degraded natural areas due to its low soil requirements and high adaptability to growing on different soil types. Despite the fact that this plant tolerates light, permeable soils, it should be noted that in the case of commercial cultivation of serviceberries on soils poor in nutrients, the growth of shrubs after planting is slow, which delays their entry into the stage of full fruiting.

Pruning: Seedlings do not need pruning and neither do mature shrubs, apart from shaping and limiting growth (such pruning should be carried out at the end of winter). This variety is quite resistant to frost and diseases.

Overwintering: Honeywood does great in the Polish temperate climate. It’s recommended to cover young seedlings for the winter.

Origin: Canada.

Limitations: Due to phytosanitary regulations, this seedling cannot be shipped to Estonia, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Finland, Lithuania, Ireland, UK, Slovenia and Slovakia.