Serviceberries

Saskatoon 1

The lands of the Dungeness Recreation Area are frosted with blossoms of native serviceberries (amelanchier alnifolia) these days.

Saskatoon 3

Also called saskatoons, in summertime these showy blossoms turn to tiny purple berries. They attract birds, among them one of my favorite visitors, cedar waxwings.

Saskatoon 2

People also eat the abundant berries though they can be a bit mealy. We met a Native American woman harvesting them for pies and other treats one summer and a couple of Eastern Europeans who were convinced they’d found wild blueberries. Some trees have better berries than others. I suspect the soil quality is a big factor.

7 thoughts on “Serviceberries”

  1. I think I’ll just enjoy their natural beauty and leave the eating to Eastern Europeans or other such folks. 🙂 Wishing you and yours a great weekend!

  3. Kay, do these produce a wonderful smell as well? Whenever we go to the Dungeness Recreation area we smell that delicious plant or berry or whatever it is, and my wife wants to plant some at our house. We’ve just never known what was producing that pleasant smell.

    1. Mike, these don’t have a scent as far as I can tell. Check them out; they’re blooming everywhere. We have also caught some wonderful whiffs and haven’t identified them. The wild roses have a beautiful fragrance but I’m looking for something that blooms before them.

      1. Yes Kay, my wife looked at these and said, “no, those are not the ones that smell good.” She said the ones she likes, that smell good, are white flower-like, and they spread out on the ground almost like ground cover. She has only seen them at the Dungeness Recreation area, but loves the way they smell. If you happen to go there again maybe you can look for them and do a Sequim Daily Photo on them. Nobody seems to know their names.

  5. I know the name serviceberry, but I can’t say that I recognize it. Maybe we don’t have them on the East Coast? Or maybe I am just a plant ignoramus?

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