Canadian serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis)

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Canadian serviceberry

Habit (mature) · Borealis55 / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Limited coverage

Canadian serviceberry

Amelanchier canadensis

A small native tree with white spring flowers, edible summer berries, and copper to red fall color.

Native: 36 US states + 4 CA provinces

Review: Source-backed

Climate fit: broad (73/100)

Focal point

Structure

Edible

Pollinator

Light

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Water

Moderate water

Mature size

180-300" tall · 96" apart

Hardy in zones

3a-8a

brutally cold to cold winters

Summer heat range

Cool-Warm

cool to warm summers Interim Plotwright tier until the plant AHS range is authored.

Native in Illinois

Yes

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Heat and sun protection

Shade cloth, shade hoops, cooling mulch, and heat-stress monitoring tools.

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Watering and irrigation

Watering cans, soaker hoses, drip kits, moisture meters, and timers.

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Plant support

Stakes, cages, trellises, ties, clips, arbors, and heavy-duty supports.

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Wildlife protection

Bird netting, deer fencing, rabbit guards, trunk guards, and crop covers.

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Transplanting and establishment

Trowels, transplant spades, starter fertilizer, root stimulators, and watering bags.

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Drainage and aeration

Perlite, pumice, raised-bed mix, aerators, and drainage-focused containers.

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Native across 40 US states and Canadian provinces — a wide-ranging part of North America's plant communities.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Cold hardiness

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Chicago, IL · 1991-2020 average annual coldest day

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Well-suited

2050

Zone 7b

Plotwright

Your zone + climate-model shift · SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry)

Well-suited

In plain terms: cold winters — coldest nights typically around -3°F.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

°C

°F

Loading current AHS heat-zone and plant heat-fit data at your coordinates…

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 37 ecoregions — 34 climate-resilient through 2070 · 3 suited today. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Blue Mountains forests

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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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Colorado Rockies forests

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Cross-Timbers savanna-woodland

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Pollination

Self-fertile (better with a partner)

Self-fertile in mechanism — a single Amelanchier plant produces fruit on its own — but cross-pollination from a second plant of the same species (or a different Amelanchier species in the same bloom window) noticeably improves berry size and yield. Spring flowers are heavily worked by native bees and early-season pollinators emerging from winter; the fruit is critical early-summer food for songbirds.

Within

100 feet of a partner

Bloom timing

Early bloom · partner matching preferred

Yield with partners

Plant 2+ trees within reasonable bee-flight distance (typically 50-100 feet) for noticeably larger crops; isolated single trees still fruit but yield less.

Plants don't grow alone

Pollinates

Bee

Mason bees (Osmia spp.)

Pollinates

Bee

Common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens)

Early-spring native bees emerging from winter are the primary pollinators; serviceberry is among the earliest spring nectar sources in eastern North America.

Pollinates

Bee

Sweat bees (Lasioglossum spp.)

Pollen forage

Bee

Mining bees (Andrena spp.)

Fruit forage

Bird

Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis)

Fruit forage

Bird

American robin (Turdus migratorius)

Fruit forage

Bird

Cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

Cedar waxwings travel in flocks and can strip a serviceberry tree clean in a single afternoon visit; one of the most famous wildlife-vs-gardener fruit competitions.

Fruit forage

Bird

Eastern songbirds (multi-species) (multiple species (Passeriformes))

Robins, catbirds, thrushes, and many other songbirds compete with cedar waxwings (and humans) for the early-summer fruit crop.

For people

Edible

Berries are edible and excellent — flavor reads as a blueberry-meets-almond depending on species, with a soft texture closer to mulberry than to true berries. Long-domesticated as a food crop by Indigenous peoples of North America (the Saskatoon serviceberry, Amelanchier alnifolia, is the iconic Plains-and-prairie food species; A. canadensis and A. arborea are the common eastern garden species).

Edible parts

fruit

Culinary use

Fresh from the tree (the birds compete with you for them — net to harvest in quantity), in pies and crisps and crumbles, made into jam and syrup, dried for pemmican-style preservation.

Traditional medicinal use

A staple food and traditional medicine across many Indigenous nations of North America (Blackfeet, Cree, Lakota, and the Haudenosaunee among many others); berries were dried and added to pemmican, leaves and inner bark used medicinally. Modern medicinal claims should not be inferred from the food-staple history.

Appears in collections

+4

Collection · 8 plants

Food-forest layered edible

A vertically stacked edible polyculture: nut-bearing canopy, fruit-bearing understory, berry shrub layer, herbaceous + groundcover layers. Models a temperate-climate forest-garden palette for eastern North America.

Shagbark hickory

Pawpaw

Canadian serviceberry

Highbush blueberry

Allegheny blackberry

Chives

Parsley

Wild strawberry

Sources & citations

Cite this page

For lesson plans, articles, or research that uses this page. To cite a single upstream fact instead, use its specific source listed below.

Plotwright. (2026, May 17). Canadian serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis). Retrieved 2026, June 5, from https://plotwright.garden/plants/serviceberry

Sources for every fact

Every fact on this page traces to a source. 18 fields cited — 18 source-backed.

NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

University extension service

Backs 17 fields

Identity

Summary

Plant type

Light

Moisture

Hardiness

Heat zone

Size

Spacing

Habit

Design roles

Seasonal interest

Growth stages

Lifecycle

Regional guidance

Success tips

Designer notes

Wikimedia Commons

Photo · Public domain

Backs 1 field

Image

Community photos

The photos above are our reviewed reference set, curated for accuracy.