# Allegheny Serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis)

> Bronze-purple new leaves under white flowers, and the sweetest fruit of the serviceberries.

Also called smooth serviceberry, juneberry. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/allegheny-serviceberry/

![Allegheny serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis) leaf held against the smooth, striped gray bark of a trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/allegheny-serviceberry-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Robert H. Mohlenbrock, Public domain · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amelanchier_laevis.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 15 to 25 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 9
- Grows wild in: The forest understory, rich moist slopes and the Appalachians
- Native range: 26 states and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC), north and west to [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN) and south to [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC)). Also recorded, not native, in [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA)
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average
- Growth rate: Medium
- Flowers: April
- Fruit: Berries, June
- First crop: 2 to 3 years after planting
- Mature spread: 25 ft
- Traits: Showy flowers, Edible, Wildlife value, Fall color, Street tree
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Allegheny serviceberry is the mountain and northern cousin of downy serviceberry, distinguished by hairless, coppery new growth and juicier fruit. Both are excellent; this one shines where springs are cool. Multi-stemmed clumps make a natural screen; single stems make a small shade tree. Kept to one stem, it also suits a street, even under power lines. Belongs at a woodland edge where you can pick the fruit before the birds do.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Allegheny serviceberry is the juneberry, so called because its fruit ripens to dark purplish black in June. A young tree puts on roughly a foot and a half of height a year on an average site, the rate our growth estimator assumes for a medium grower. It reaches 15 to 25 feet tall and about as wide, and a single-trunked tree can reach 40 feet. It is fairly short-lived. A sapling bears its first fruit 2 to 3 years after planting.

White flowers open in April, before the leaves. Each fruit is about three eighths of an inch across and matches a blueberry in size, color and taste, and it is juicier than the fruit of downy serviceberry. Songbirds, ruffed grouse and small mammals strip the crop as soon as it ripens.

It grows wild from Newfoundland and southern Ontario south to Delaware, Kentucky and Iowa, and down the mountains to Georgia and Tennessee, in thickets, open woods and sheltered slopes. It resents drought.

## How to grow Allegheny Serviceberry

Allegheny serviceberry does best where summers stay cool, in full sun or the light shade of taller trees. It wants an ordinary, evenly moist soil that drains. Give a multi-stemmed clump 12 to 15 feet of space.

Plant dormant bare-root saplings between leaf drop and bud break. Make the hole wide and shallow, twice the root spread, with the root flare level with the surface. Refill with plain soil, water well, and lay a mulch ring two or three inches deep that stops short of the stems. Stake only if the tree will not stand on its own. Seed needs three to four months of cold, damp storage. Sow cleaned seed outdoors in fall a quarter inch deep, or chill it in the refrigerator and sow in spring. Many seeds wait until the second spring to come up.

Serviceberry roots are shallow, so water weekly through the first two summers. Rabbits gnaw the smooth bark in winter and deer browse the tips, so use a wire guard for the first three years. Prune only to remove crossing stems or to shape a clump into a single trunk.

A single plant sets fruit, and birds will take the June crop before it fully ripens unless you net it. Serviceberry can show rust spots on leaves and fruit near junipers and red cedars.

## Sources

- [The Morton Arboretum: Allegheny serviceberry](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/allegheny-serviceberry/)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Amelanchier laevis](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=286377)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Amelanchier laevis](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/amelanchier-laevis/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Amelanchier laevis](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=amla)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual: Amelanchier chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Amelanchier.pdf)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: Alleghany serviceberry, Amelanchier laevis](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=820)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Amelanchier laevis](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.161261/Amelanchier_laevis)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Amelanchier laevis](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250100027)
- [Go Botany (Native Plant Trust): Amelanchier laevis, smooth shadbush](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/amelanchier/laevis/)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online: Amelanchier laevis](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/amelanchier/amelanchier-laevis/)
- [University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension, Wisconsin Horticulture: Serviceberry, Amelanchier spp.](https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/serviceberry-amelanchier-spp/)
- [University of Illinois Extension, Selecting Shrubs for Your Home: Alleghany serviceberry, Amelanchier laevis](https://web.extension.illinois.edu/shrubselector/detail_plant.cfm?PlantID=345)
- [University of Maryland Extension, Home and Garden Information Center: Serviceberry, an early-flowering Maryland native tree](https://extension.umd.edu/resource/serviceberry-early-flowering-maryland-native-tree)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Amelanchier laevis](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/AMLA)
- [Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home and Garden Information Center: Serviceberry, HGIC 1026](https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/serviceberry/)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for bees: pollen, nectar, nesting and a bloom calendar from willow to witch hazel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-bees/index.html.md)
- [Native fruit and nut trees to grow and eat: what each bears, when it starts, and which need a partner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-fruit-and-nut-trees/index.html.md)
- [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md)

## Related

- We grow 7 other serviceberries (Amelanchier): [all of them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/index.html.md?q=amelanchier)
- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Pagoda Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pagoda-dogwood/index.html.md), [Umbrella Magnolia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/umbrella-magnolia/index.html.md), [Mountain Winterberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mountain-winterberry/index.html.md) and [Striped Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/striped-maple/index.html.md)
- Trees to plant it under: [American Beech](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-beech/index.html.md), [Northern Red Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/northern-red-oak/index.html.md) and [Yellow Buckeye](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yellow-buckeye/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Downy Serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/downy-serviceberry/index.html.md), [Shadblow Serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/shadblow-serviceberry/index.html.md), [Scrub Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/scrub-hickory/index.html.md) and [Pyramid Magnolia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pyramid-magnolia/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Allegheny Serviceberry, add ?species=allegheny-serviceberry with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 3, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=allegheny-serviceberry&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Allegheny Serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=allegheny-serviceberry): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Transplant planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=allegheny-serviceberry): whether Allegheny Serviceberry can be moved and what the move takes, the root ball, its weight, who can move it and the months, as Markdown at that address (add caliper= or height=, month= 1 to 12 and soil= sandy, loam or clay)
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Allegheny Serviceberry as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=allegheny-serviceberry (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Allegheny Serviceberry is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=allegheny-serviceberry (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Allegheny Serviceberry needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 1 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=allegheny-serviceberry:1
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Allegheny Serviceberry where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=allegheny-serviceberry&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Allegheny Serviceberry goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=allegheny-serviceberry&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Allegheny Serviceberry flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=allegheny-serviceberry