With each passing year, the lovely Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry becomes more and more  one of my all time favorite small flowering trees.   Early every spring, the Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry that have been planted around Northfield explode with dainty white blossoms that make a real statement in the landscape.

Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry is available in single stem trees or multi-stem clumps so you can choose the form that fits best for you.  For the last ten days, the Serviceberry shrubs and small trees have been bloooming in southern Minnesota, and soon the wild Saskatoon Serviceberry that are common in Northern Minnesota and all across Canada will provide a welcome dose of spring flowers for winter weary Northerners.

The hybrid Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry is a time tested and very winter hardy variety that performs well in home landscapes as well as harsher commercial sites, and even boulevards and highway rights of way where salt spray is an added challenge.  That’s outstanding versatility.

I recommend planting Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry where soils are properly drained, and would avoid placing it in soils that frequently become waterlogged.  While Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry grows to a height of about 20 feet, it’s close cousin, Regent Serviceberry is an excellent choice when you want a flowering shrub that has a smaller size rating of about 6 feet tall, and takes pruning well if you want to maintain it at an even smaller size.

Both Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry and Regent Serviceberry produce large quantities of tasty 1/2″ to 3/4″ fruits in late June or July  – hence the common name that is often applied to serviceberries – or “Juneberry”.  I love to eat the fruits as I wander through the nursery sales areas and I compete for the fruit with the birds that are equally fond of the serviceberries as they mature from a reddish color to purple/red.  In the canoe country of Northern Minnesota and Southern Ontario, the wild Saskatoon Serviceberries mature in mid to late July or even early August and have provided a treat on my wilderness wanderings.

Whether you choose Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry or it’s smaller relative Regent Serviceberry,  I’m sure it will become one of your favorite landscape plants.