Amelanchier alnifolia GreatBerry Farm - Saskatoon

Amelanchier alnifolia GreatBerry Farm 'Kojuaagf' is a variety that forms a small tree with multiple trunks, an upright and spreading habit, reaching 4 m in height. It is a fruit tree native to North America, long appreciated for its edible, tasty, and highly nutritious fruits, known as 'saskatoon' by Native Americans. Following its white spring flowering, clusters of dark and sweet fruits emerge, with a flavour reminiscent of blueberries, apples, almonds, and hazelnuts. They are harvested in July and August from this non-early variety and can be consumed fresh, dried, in jelly, jam, or even in desserts and pastries. Amelanchiers are easy-going and very rewarding shrubs or small trees. They make excellent free-standing, hedgerow, or countryside shrubs.

Native to North America, from Alaska to Maine, the Amelanchier with alder-like leaves is a robust shrub from the large Rosaceae family, largely resistant to parasites and extreme cold. In nature, it is found along watercourses as well as in much less favourable environments, such as rocky slopes exposed to the wind. It thrives in rather acidic and moist soil, proving accommodating and capable of adapting to relatively dry and hot summers once established. To achieve a good harvest, provide it with fairly fertile soil and water when necessary.

Its habit is bushy and branching, taller than wide. With a rather slow growth, the shrub will reach about 4 m in height by 2.5 to 3.5 m in width at maturity. Its bark is grey to brown, sometimes tinged with red. Smooth when young, it becomes rougher over time. The abundant flowering occurs in April-May, at the end of bare young branches or already adorned with very young leaves, depending on the climate. Flowering and fruiting are rapid in this amelanchier, around the age of 3-4 years. The 2cm diameter white flowers with 5 petals and yellow stamens are clustered along the branches. They are followed by round, edible fruits resembling blueberries, called pomes. They turn almost black when ripe, in June. Their pleasantly sweet and aromatic flavour and juicy pulp allow them to be consumed fresh, cooked, as jam, or jelly. Recent analyses confirm their high content of antioxidant molecules, vitamins, and minerals. Saskatoons have a limited shelf life. They can be eaten fresh, frozen, dried, or preserved for later use. A single plant is sufficient to yield a harvest ranging from 3 kg up to 7-8 kg of fruits depending on soil fertility, but it is often recommended to plant two plants to optimise fruit formation.

The young spring leaves are fuzzy, becoming tougher later on. They display a pretty bluish-green hue, turning yellow in autumn before falling. Measuring up to 5 cm in length, they are entire, oval, serrated at the edges and arranged alternately on the branches.

Amelanchier GreatBerry Farm is a robust, undemanding, and charming fruit shrub that deserves a place in a countryside, informal, or fruit hedge. It can also be used in the background of perennial or lower shrub borders. It pairs beautifully with ornamental apple and cherry trees, deciduous euonymus, Japanese quince, spring spireas, hawthorns, medlar, plum trees, and many more. Create a fruit hedge by combining it, for example, with the may berry (Lonicera kamtschatica Sweet Myberry), garden blackberries, red currants, black currants, cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon), blueberry bushes, raspberry canes, Aronia, Japanese silverberry...

The name 'Saskatoon', an anglicisation of a word from the Cree people's language, can be translated as "the fruit of the tree with many branches". This fruit gave its name to the Canadian city of Saskatoon.