Guide to Growing Saskatoon Berries: The Prairie Berry (a.k.a. Juneberry)
Guide to growing saskatoon berries. A Saskatoon bush is a great addition to a home garden…
By Steven Biggs
How to Grow a Saskatoon Bush
As an Ontarian, there was a fruit that I never ate growing up.
But I heard lots about it from Mom.
She grew up in Western Canada, and talked about the saskatoon berries that her parents grew. And when I finally saw a saskatoon bush, on a trip to her childhood home, I was surprised that the row of bushes was taller than me. I'd been expecting something puny, like the wild blueberry bushes we get in Ontario.
What is a Saskatoon Bush?
The saskatoon bush (Amelanchier alnifolia) is a native North American fruiting bush. It has a wide range: Wild saskatoon bushes are found in Alaska and Yukon, and in the harsh conditions of the prairie landscape.
It has a few aliases: South of the border you might hear it called juneberry (june berry), shadbush, and western serviceberry. And in the east, it's sometimes called serviceberry—like it's many kin in the Amelancheier clan. (There are many serviceberry species, some shrubby, some growing as small trees.)
The saskatoon bush (Amelanchier alnifolia) is a native North American fruiting bush.
(If you’ve ever grabbed a handful of wild serviceberries or saskatoons and them spit them out because they’re pithy and dry, it’s time to try the domesticated version! The flavour and texture of the wild berries varies a lot, can comparing them to Saskatoon berries is like comparing a crabapple to a big, red, juicy apple from an orchard.)
Saskatoon Fruit
Ripe saskatoon berries look a bit like blueberries...but the similarities end there. They have a taste of their own, a bit nutty and slightly almond-like.
(In case you’re interested, they’re actually related to apples and mountain ash, so it’s no surprise they’re very different from blueberries.)
The saskatoon fruit turns from green to red as it ripens, with fully ripe fruit eventually turning deep purple—almost black.
Saskatoon Bush Size
Saskatoon bushes can grow to approximately 5 metres (16’) high when not pruned.
But in commercial production, they're often kept shorter, under 1.5 metres (5’) high.
An Ornamental Edible
Along with the attractive fruit, saskatoon bushes have showy spring bloom, with clusters of upright flowers.
Saskatoon bushes are a great addition in an ornamental garden too. Along with the attractive fruit, the spring bloom, with its clusters of upright flowers, is very showy.
In the autumn, the leaves paint the garden with a showy orange colour.
Saskatoon Berries Cold Hardiness
It's as tough as nails! No surprise for a plant that’s native to the Great Plains, it takes harsh, dry conditions.
There are a few things that affect hardiness, but it takes temperatures as cold as -50°C (-58°F), and probably colder.
How to Plant a Saskatoon Berry Bush
Choose a Location
Select a location with a well-drained soil. Saskatoon bushes are tolerant of many soil types. So a clay soil with some soil moisture is fine, as long as the soil is not waterlogged.
Full sun is ideal for the best fruit production. It does respectably well in home gardens with partial shade, although the harvest is less than full-sun locations.
If you get late spring frosts, a sloped location where cold air can drain away is best. South-facing locations in cold areas are not ideal, as they warm up more quickly in early spring. That causes flowering while there's still more risk of frost.
Planting a Saskatoon Shrub
When planting most trees and shrubs it's good practice to keep the depth the same as it was before. Not deeper.
There are exceptions to every rule…and the Saskatoon is an exception.
You can plant your saskatoon bush at the same depth; that's fine. But you can also plant it a bit deeper.
Here’s why:
Saskatoon bushes have a habit of suckering—of sending up new shoots beyond the original bush. The bush gets wider over time, and you can end up with a little Saskatoon thicket!
But when planted a few inches deeper, they're less likely to sucker.
After you've planted, keep it well watered for the first year until it's established. Mulch the soil surface around the bush to control weeds and keep in soil moisture.
Landscape with Fruit
That’s easy to grow in a home garden!
Saskatoon Bushes in the Landscape
Saskatoon berries are very versatile in a home landscape.
Here are a few ideas:
Saskatoon Hedge. If it’s an edible hedge you’re after, look no further than the Saskatoon! It’s really ornamental too!
Saskatoons in a Food Forest. In forest gardens, Saskatoons can be grown as shrubs or small trees, and are tolerant of partial shade.
Saskatoon Berries in Containers. Because of their excellent tolerance of harsh conditions, Saskatoon berries are great candidates for container gardens.
I have an edible hedge in my garden that has a saskatoon bush, haskaps, and Nanking cherry.
Find out how to grow an edible hedge.
Check out these 5 types of cherry bushes to grow in an edible landscape.
Saskatoon Berry Care
Pruning Saskatoon Bushes
Regular pruning helps maintain vigour and encourages annual fruit production. (With saskatoon, like many fruit trees and bushes, plants often fruit more heavily every second year, something called biennial bearing.)
With pruning, we're helping the plant grow in a way that's beneficial to us. Importantly, we want to pick saskatoon berries without a ladder! (More fruit within reach means more for you, less for the birds!)
Here are a few more thoughts on pruning your saskatoon bush:
Prune out older, less fruitful wood
Remove diseased branches
The best fruit production is on wood from the previous season (older wood gives some fruit, though not as much)
Some saskatoon shrubs favour one main leading branch (leader) when unpruned. Prune back leaders for a well-branched bush form
Prune when dormant
Remember, prune your saskatoon shrub to control size and to create a multi-stemmed shrub.
With pruning, there are two main types of cut we make:
"Heading" cuts, where we cut a branch back only part way to the main branch they come from, encourage branching
"Thinning" cuts, where we cut right back to the main branch, are used to remove weak or unwanted growth
Feeding and Watering Saskatoon Bushes in a Home Landscape
If you have a well-fed soil that has been amended with lots of organic matter, you might not need to give any additional feed.
Sandy soils don't hold moisture or nutrients as well, so if you're on a sandy soil, be sure to amend the soil with lots of organic matter.
Mature service berry bushes are very hardy and won't require irrigation. While establishing newly planted bushes, water for the first year until well rooted.
When to Harvest Saskatoon Berries
As saskatoon berries ripen, they first turn red or pink. Not all fruit ripen at the same time.
Saskatoons are self-fertile, meaning you get fruit even if you have only one bush. There's no need for a second bush.
Not all flowers open at the same time; and not all fruit ripen at the same time. Fruit on the outside and sunniest part of a bush often develop faster. So expect to pick more than once.
The fruit ripens six to eight weeks after flowering. If you're growing more than one variety, flowering and ripening times vary by variety.
As berries ripen, they first take on a red colour. Next, as they turn to dark purple, you can begin tasting them to figure out if they're close to optimal ripeness. On rip fruit, the flesh is usually pink or red.
How to Use Saskatoon Berries
Our favourite way to use serviceberries is for fresh eating. We graze some in the garden, mix with other fruits for fruit salad, or use them on cereal.
Fresh berries don’t last too long once picked because during picking the skin tears a bit as the stem detaches.
Saskatoon berries go from pink to blue, often to a purple-black colour. Taste some to determine if they’re fully ripe.
Here are a few other ways to use the fruit:
Jams and jellies
Pie
Muffins
Syrup
I've even heard of wine...though I haven't tried it!
And if you want some for using later, freeze them directly in freezer bags—or make some into dried berries.
A few saskatoon berries go nicely atop a crème brûlée! Find out how to make crème brûlée—gardener style!
Propagating a Saskatoon Bush
In the nursery trade, saskatoon bushes are often propagated by cuttings and tissue culture. Sometimes they are seed-grown, but there can be more variability with seed-grown plants.
For home gardeners, rooting saskatoon cuttings is a bit more tricky, as you need controlled conditions.
But its tendency to sucker makes it easy for home gardeners to propagate. The suckers it sends out are from underground stems (called stolons). They shoot up a little way away from the main plant. These can be removed from the parent plant using a spade.
Landscape with Fruit
That’s easy to grow in a home garden!
Saskatoon Berries Varieties
Because saskatoon berries are grown as a commercial crop, there are a number of cultivated varieties. You will probably find the best selection at a specialist nursery.
Here are things to look at as you compare saskatoon varieties:
Fruit size
Fruit colour (there are even white-fruited varieties...but they're usually grown as ornamentals)
Bush height and spread
Bloom time
Disease resistance
Pests and Diseases of Saskatoon Shrubs
In a home garden setting pests and diseases are infrequent.
Here are three to watch for:
Rabbits. They enjoy snacking on young branches on new bushes over winter (use tree guards or chicken wire if this might be a problem)
Birds. Don't leave your harvest too late -- and consider netting if birds are likely to be a problem (or just grow more bushes so there's lots to share)
Saskatoon-juniper rust. This disease needs both the juniper and Saskatoon plants to finish its life cycle. It causes raised yellow areas on leaves and misshapen fruit. Cut out the woody galls on juniper that host the disease (you'll see yellow growths on them in spring). If it’s a problem, look for rust-resistant varieties (Arcadia, Broadmoor, Buffalo, Calgary Carpet)
Saskatoon Berry FAQ
What's the botanical name?
Amelanchier alnifolia (Although there are also a couple of cultivars that are hybrids with Amelanchier stolonifera)
How long will a saskatoon shrub live?
With pruning and good care, a saskatoon shrub fruits well for decades, by which point you'll have taken off suckers to make yourself even more plants!
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Course on Home Fruit Growing
5 Types of Cherry Bush to Grow in Edible Landscapes and Food Forests
5 types of cherries to grow as a bush in an edible landscape. Evans cherry, University of Saskatchewan bush cherries, chokecherry, Nanking cherry, Pin cherry
By Steven Biggs
Grow Cherries in an Edible Landscape or Food Forest
A cherry bush is a great addition to an edible landscape or food forest. Here’s a Nanking cherry bush.
The noise!
If you’ve grown cherries, you might have had a flock of birds descend on a cherry tree. Starlings, especially, are so loud that I wonder how they manage to eat and squawk at the same time.
But they do. And they clean out a tree quickly.
The gardener can watch (and listen) – or, go look for a ladder to get up there and compete with the birds for the cherries!
A ladder… Who needs the bother of a ladder in an edible landscape or a food forest?
In a home garden or landscape setting, simplicity is key. Ladders are not simple. Nor are fruit trees that need shaping and regular pruning.
Luckily, there are a number of cherries that grow as bushes.
Some have larger fruit that you can pop right into your mouth. Others, long prized by foragers, have smaller fruit suited for jams, jellies, juices, and wine.
Keep reading for bush cherry crops you can add to your garden.
Benefits of a Cherry Bush vs. a Tree
A bush makes a lot of sense in a home garden or edible landscape.
When you have a bush with multiple stems, you can renew it by lopping of some of the stems so that new stems take over
More branches means more yield
Cherry insurance! (More branches means more chance of some surviving a challenging winter)
Foil the birds…because a bush is easy for you to quickly pick (and easier to net if you’re so inclined)
Cold hardiness, because low-growing branches are insulated by snow
In this article, I have 5 different cherries that you can grow as a bush in your edible landscape or food forest.
These all grow on their own roots (so no grafting required), and are all self-fertile—so you don’t need to worry about growing two varieties to get fruit.
Forget the Ladder…Grow a Cherry Bush
Dwarf Sour Cherry Bushes…from Saskatchewan
The University of Saskatchewan fruit breeding program has produced some great high-yielding hardy bush cherries. (So good that even the BBC wrote about them!)
The bush-like form and the high-quality fruit is the result of breeding Mongolian cherry with European sour cherry.
The bush-cherry cultivars in the University of Saskatchewan “Romance” series have different bloom times, bush size, and fruit colour.
Here are the cultivars:
Carmine Jewel
Romeo
Juliet
Valentine
Cupid
Crimson Passion
Here’s more about the story behind these cherries.
Here’s where you can find out more about ripeness.
Hear bush cherry expert Bob Bors talk about cherry breeding and haskaps at the University of Saskatchewan. https://www.foodgardenlife.com/show/grow-haskap
Landscape with Fruit
That’s easy to grow in a home garden!
Evan’s Cherry in Alberta
Dr. Ieuan Evans with Evans cherries.
Prunus cerasus
When Dr. Ieuan Evans moved to Alberta, he was disappointed to find very few people growing fruit.
But he heard about a very fruitful cherry tree near Edmonton, so he visited – and got pieces of it to propagate. (Just in time, as the property was slated for redevelopment.)
He gave away rooted suckers of this fruitful cherry as fast as he could grow them. It was very cold hardy AND very fruitful.
What’s now known as Evans cherry is an especially cold-hardy cultivar of the European sour cherry.
It can grow as a tree or a bush.
Hear Ieuan Evans talk about finding the Evan’s Cherry in Alberta.
Nanking Cherry Often Overlooked
Nanking cherry bush in flower.
Prunus tomentosa
This is the cherry bush that my grandfather grew in his Calgary yard.
It’s compact, extremely fruitful – and a beautiful addition to a landscape. I grow it in my front yard, and when it blooms, pedestrians always stop to take selfies in front of it.
These small sour cherries are delicious fresh. They’re also great for use in the kitchen. I like to make them into a cordial.
The fruit is smaller than the University of Saskatchewan and Evan’s cherries. But they’re absolutely prolific.
I have an article all about them. Find out more about Nanking cherry.
Chokecherry (a.k.a. Choke Cherry)
Chokecherry fruit grow in easy-to-pick clusters.
Prunus virginiana
Chokecherry is a native north American species that grows as a bush or small tree. There are a few cultivars, but most people know it because wild chokecherry plants arrives in gardens uninvited—thanks to critters that drop the seeds.
I have a patch of chokecherry in my garden. When a purple-leafed plant appeared, it was the perfect addition to an otherwise underused corner of my garden.
The flowers of chokecherry are a cluster that looks a bit like a bottle brush. And when those flowers become fruit, the pea-sized fruit are all in an easy-to-pick cluster.
This astringent fruit is aptly named. It has supreme pucker power! With processing though, the fruit is delicious. Use them for juice, jam, and syrup.
Hear Quebec agronomist Laurie Brown talk about growing and using chokecherry.
Chokecherry flowers
Pin Cherry (a.k.a. Pincherry)
Brightly coloured pin cherries light up the landscape!
(Prunus pensylvanica)
Pin cherry is another native North American species that grows as a shrub or small tree. I love the smooth, brownish-red bark.
Like chokecherry, the fruit are small. They’re more suited to fresh eating than chokecherry, giving you a tasty sour cherry taste without all the astringency.
While chokecherry flowers and fruit grow in a bottle-brush-like cylinder, pin cherries are on long, slender stems, with a few stems attaching to a branch in the same spot.
The bright red cherries light up a landscape. Use them to make jelly, juice, syrup, and wine.
Bush Cherry FAQ
Can I swallow the seeds?
All cherry seeds contain a cyanide compound, and consuming large quantities of fruit without removing seeds can make you sick. So spit out the pits!
