Blueberry bushes are the most frustrating plant in the American garden. They demand perfect soil, constant water, and acidic pH that most of us simply don’t have. If you have killed a blueberry bush, it’s not your fault. You are fighting nature. 🫐🚫
In today’s video, I introduce you to the Serviceberry (also known as Juneberry, Saskatoon, or Shadbush). This native North American super-fruit tastes like a mix of blueberry and almond, has more protein and fiber, and most importantly—it grows in almost ANY soil.
Stop fighting with pH meters and bags of peat moss. It’s time to plant a tree that actually wants to grow in your backyard.
In this video, I explain: ✅ The Soil Rebellion: Why blueberries die in neutral soil and why Serviceberries thrive in clay. ✅ The Flavor: Why the “almond” aftertaste of the Serviceberry makes it superior for pies and jams. ✅ The History: How this fruit fueled Native American nations (Pemmican) but disappeared from grocery stores. ✅ The Cultivars: Which varieties to plant for a hedge vs. a tree.
If you are tired of babysitting high-maintenance plants, this native tree is the answer.
🌱 Plants Mentioned:
Serviceberry / Juneberry (Amelanchier)
Cultivars: ‘Regent’, ‘Autumn Brilliance’, ‘Thiessen’
Saskatoon Berry (Amelanchier alnifolia)
#Serviceberry #Juneberry #SaskatoonBerry #NativePlants #EdibleLandscaping #Permaculture #GardeningTips #GrowWithDuke #Blueberries
28 Comments
Holy cow, I planted 3 bushes about 15 years ago. I do almost NOTHING to these bushes except prune out old dying branches in spring, and an occasional weeding around them. I get TONS of blueberries. Well the birds, squirrels and chipmunks get tons, I get maybe 20lbs from the three bushes.
The species alnifolia
A bit too aggrandized. The variant of serviceberries in my area (possibly canadensis, upstate NY, zone 5, clay soil) taste like a cross between the blueberry and a grape, the skins a little too tough and the seeds too large to want to eat much in a jam. I use the bulk of the simmered pulp (through sieve, frozen) to mix with black raspberries (ripe a couple of weeks thereafter in my shaded backyard) to get a great jam with a tolerable amount of seediness. Alternatively, when commercial frozen wild Maine blueberries go on sale then I make a mostly seedless jam. That's the only tasty blueberry to me and they, too, cannot store and ship in other ways due to fragility and sugar content. My city's arborist is no longer planting any fruiting species so there is less to urban forage, alas and alack.
Where I am in southern California zone 9A, the easiest berry to grow is the mulberry. I m trying blueberries in pots, but the jury is still out on them.
We call them Felsenbirnen. I like them, too 😋
I have seen Blueberries growing in the Canadian Shield thriving on neglect. Serviceberries are grown everywhere here in Ontario just as much as Mulberries. They not uncommon here.
My mom raised blue berries, but she lived on Cape Cod, MA where they grow wild. I live in WY where the soil is highly alkaline & clay, i grow service berries. I’d never be able to amend the soil enough to manage blue berries & service berries grow wild in the Rocky Mountains
I never had problems growing blueberries, so I am finding this information wrong in my opinion. Both berries are good to eat. If you are having problems with the blueberries Why not graft roots of the service Berry to the stem and tops of the Blueberry?
Deer love to eat the new growth on Blueberry bushes.
Just like I thought more BS
I grew one here in Virginia. It grew rapidly with little care and made many berries. The berries were covered with a fungus that looked like little thick hairs. The birds wouldn't eat them. I tried different sprays for 2 years but nothing worked. I finally dug it up and got rid of it.
I planted a few, yes they grow easily and the fruit is edible, not as tasty as blueberries but it is aggressive, spreads like bamboo. Be warned.
My extended family lives in Sverdovskaya, Russia. Everyone grows a few blueberry bushes at their dachas. Not a single dacha has acidic soil, and yet blueberries thrive and are covered in fruit. Perhaps it's due to a different cultivar, or perhaps the need for acidic soil is untrue.
Why you are talking nonsens ? I have blueberries in my garden and on the containers they gives excellent crops when you give them what they need and it’s easy.
We have been eating Saskatoon Berries in our backyard for years. We have a couple different locations and ages of trees. We've never watered, fertilized them and they are all natural. Make the best muffins and the health benefits of these berries is amazing. Blueberries are just horrible to grow here.
Last year was the first year we had problems with the one location so the crop was not good.
This was an excellent vid, thank you from a new subscriber in Northwestern Ontario Canada
Because my soil isn't acidic (and I don't want to keep buying and adding sulphur), I grow honeyberries instead.
Hey, It grows just great along one side of my property line (1700ft long). I am not a fan though. Ya I can eat it. Ya blueberries are a pain but what has been insanely successful here are ….. dang I forgot the name ….. It's the haskap berry.
Agree about the blueberries! Six tons of green sand, and amendments, 60 blueberry plants, four varieties . All dead in two years.
I grow serviceberries in the high desert of Southern Utah. Like everyone else, I have to compete with the birds for the berries. The native cultivar here is Alamanchier Utahensis. I tried growing blueberries, but our alkaline soil makes it almost impossible. There are some cultivars that tolerate it better than others, but it really isn't worth the effort. Thank you for the suggestions of the best varieties. I'm going to branch out to some new ones, I think.
You have to put pine needles around blueberries and they will thrive. Last year I was kinda mad at how many were on the 2 bushes we have. The limbs were sagging down to the ground. They did nothing till I found this out. They were knee high for about 4 years and after putting pine needles around the base in about 5 years they were taller than me and absolutely covered in berries. It was amazing.
I have one bush in a big pot and it gets blueberries. The squirrel gets 3 out of every 4. LOL No fertilizer. Mother nature waters it.
Here in wa.state i have absolutely no problem with blue berry's growing in pots and compost with coffee grounds and leaves
What isn't mentioned is the regionality of the serviceberry and blueberries. Eastern service berries and blueberries do not like the alkaline soils of the west. Blueberries where I live only thrive in containers with custom blended soil. But the saskatoon cultivars grow just fine, as do honeyberries. I have both saskatoons and honeyberries. With both of these, I never miss blueberries one bit. Honeyberries have the same thin skin issue service berries do. You just have to know when to pick honeyberries. Most people pick them too soon.
As for choosing a Regent, which is a saskatoon, that is lousy advice. Regent has the LEAST flavor of any of the saskatoons and is considered more of an ornamental. You can keep bigger varieties of saskatoons pruned to hedge size, so avoid the Regent. Juneberries from the eastern US are often misnamed huckleberries, but also have good flavor if you live in that region.
You can get honeyberries and saskatoons online.
Wife's cousin in West Virginia grows kabluey blue berry in clay on a hill gets plenty of berries every year no problems
I planted a blueberry bush after the second year I had to cover it with a net to keep the birds off of it. I planted it and left it alone.
Try honey berries instead.
I was born and raised in NW Montana, and Eastern Washington and have been a forager all my life.
I knew them as as Sarvis berries and they grew as no more than a thick wild hedge along access roads, no trees.
The berries aren't terrible but definitely meant for pemmican as they were mealey, with a low juice content.
They do mix in some seasons with choke cherry to make a nice syrup or jelly depending on juice content of that year.
Thank you great content but forgot to talk about nutritional value…good video❤