Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-384
Saskatoon
Amelanchier alnifolia
Saskatoon is a suckering shrub of cool-summer prairie and montane North America, producing a sweet, apple-flavored fruit with notes of grape and almond that is eaten fresh, dried, or turned into jam, pie, syrup and wine - traditionally the fruit in pemmican. It spreads into a thicket from deeply buried rhizomes that resprout hard even after fire, so a planting needs a mown or grazed margin to stay in bounds. Its fruit and browse are magnets for deer and other wild ungulates, worth planning around if something more vulnerable is nearby. It needs real winter cold and a cool growing season - long, hot, humid summers are outside what it is documented to tolerate.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun · Shade
- USDA zone
- USDA 4–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate · Wet
Vertical layer
Shrub- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3–18 ft
- Mature spread
- 6–8 ft
- Plant spacing
- 6–12 ft
- Root type
- Rhizome
- Spread pattern
- Both
Keep exploring
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The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
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