Amelanchier lamarckii Seeds | Juneberry
LATIN NAME: Amelanchier lamarckii
COMMON NAME: Juneberry, Snowy Mespilus
Plant Profile
Juneberry is a large shrub or small tree of the rose family, five to eight metres tall, with a multi-stemmed habit, oval leaves that open bronze and turn scarlet in autumn, and clouds of white blossom in April. The fruit that follows is small, purple-black and sweet, ripening in June, which is where the name comes from.
Amelanchier lamarckii is a hybrid, most likely between A. arborea and A. laevis, and it is unknown as a truly wild plant. It has been in European gardens since the eighteenth century and has naturalised widely in hedges and woodland edges on acid soils, which tells you most of what it needs.
Science & Biotechnology
The genus is a taxonomically awkward group of about twenty species, prone to hybridisation and apomixis, and A. lamarckii sits at the centre of the confusion. Because it is a hybrid, seed from a garden plant does not come true, and named selections are propagated by grafting or by division of suckers.
Its fruit has attracted attention as an underused temperate crop: the berries come close to blueberry in anthocyanin and sugar profile, and they ripen in a season when little else does. Trials in Europe and North America have looked at yield, machine harvest and the effect of bird predation, which is considerable.
Uses & Benefits
The fruit is pleasant raw and better cooked, and it is used for pies, jam and sometimes for a light wine. Birds take most of it unless the tree is netted, and in a mixed hedge that competition is part of the point: the plant feeds wildlife while still giving a crop.
As a garden tree it is close to ideal for small spaces. It flowers early, fruits early, colours late, and tolerates pruning into a hedge or training into a single-stemmed specimen. It also works as a windbreak filler and a nurse for slower woodland plants. Pruning is best done straight after fruiting, since next year’s flower buds form on the current season’s wood.
Growing from Seed
The seed has a double dormancy: a warm, moist period to let the embryo develop, then a cold one to break it. Mix the cleaned seed with damp sand, hold it at twenty degrees for eight weeks, then move it to three degrees for twelve; sow in spring and expect germination over six weeks.
Seedlings vary, since the parent is a hybrid, so select for leaf colour and fruit size in the second year. Grow them in a nursery row for two seasons, then plant out into any reasonably fertile, lime-free soil, in sun or light shade. Prune lightly after fruiting to keep a supply of young wood.
Our Take
Three seasons of interest from one small tree, plus fruit that the birds will race you for. Seed is a gamble on quality, so choose your seedlings with your eyes open. Net the tree if the crop matters; otherwise plant it for the blossom and let the birds have the fruit.
Related Reading
Continue exploring with these related plants: