# Bartram's Serviceberry (Amelanchier bartramiana)

> The most northern of the eastern serviceberries, a low shrub of cool bogs and mountain woods with white flowers and pear-shaped purple fruit.

Also called oblongfruit serviceberry, mountain serviceberry, mountain shadbush, Bartram's shadbush, Amelanchier oligocarpa. Category: Nut & Fruit Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bartram-serviceberry/

![Bartram's serviceberry (Amelanchier bartramiana) dark purple pear-shaped fruits among green leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/bartram-serviceberry-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Gilles Ayotte, CC BY-SA 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAmelanchier_bartramiana_15-p.bot-amel.bartra-29.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 2 to 8 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 2 to 7
- Grows wild in: The Appalachians, rocky ground, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: 10 states, north and west to Minnesota and south to West Virginia (Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin)
- Sun: Part, Full
- Soil moisture: Average, Wet
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Edible, Showy flowers, Wildlife value, Tolerates wet soil
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

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

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Bartram's serviceberry is a northern shrub of cold bogs and mountaintops, and the most distinct of its genus. It is the only North American serviceberry whose fruit is pear-shaped rather than round. It honors William Bartram, who introduced it to Europe, yet it remains extremely rare in gardens. Massachusetts lists it as threatened and Pennsylvania as endangered. Plant a patch in cool, moist, acid ground, where it knits into a low thicket that fruits in summer.

## Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates the growth of Bartram's serviceberry. Our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, about a foot and a half a year. It is a low shrub, usually 2 to 8 feet tall and rarely to 16, with upright stems that sucker into a dense patch.

White flowers three quarters of an inch to an inch across open with the leaves. They come two or three together, from May to August across the range. The fruit is dark purple and pear-shaped, about half an inch long, and ripens from July into September. It is edible, though it can be rather dry, and birds eat it as soon as it ripens.

It grows farther north than any other eastern serviceberry, from Newfoundland and Labrador west to Minnesota and south to Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Its home is cool woods, bogs, conifer swamps, sandy lake shores and rocky ridges, from sea level to about 4,900 feet.

## How to grow Bartram's Serviceberry

Bartram's serviceberry wants a cool site in part shade or sun. It grows in moist, acid soil, whether rocky, sandy or peaty. It favors undisturbed ground, such as peatlands and natural openings in old forest. Set plants 4 feet apart, and keep them 3 feet from a wall or path, since the stems sucker outward.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep a thin mulch clear of the stems. Sow cleaned seed outdoors in fall a quarter inch deep. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for 90 to 120 days first. Many seeds wait until the second spring to come up.

Water weekly through the first summer and in dry spells for two more, since it comes from cool, damp ground. Deer and rabbits browse serviceberries, so guard young plants with wire for the first two or three winters. Prune only to remove dead stems, and cut back suckers that stray past the bed.

Some plants set seed only with pollen from another plant, so plant two or more from different seed for a crop. It crosses readily with other serviceberries growing nearby. Birds take the fruit as soon as it ripens. Like other serviceberries, it can show rust or leaf spots, which seldom do lasting harm.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Amelanchier bartramiana, Campbell and others](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250100020)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society): Amelanchier bartramiana, from Bean](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/amelanchier/amelanchier-bartramiana/)
- [Native Plant Trust, Go Botany: Amelanchier bartramiana](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/amelanchier/bartramiana/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Amelanchier bartramiana](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=AMBA)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Amelanchier bartramiana](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.138763/Amelanchier_bartramiana)
- [Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife: List of Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species, printable list (321 CMR 10.90, August 16, 2024)](https://www.mass.gov/doc/printable-list-of-endangered-threatened-and-special-concern-species/download)
- [Pennsylvania Code, Title 17, Chapter 45, Conservation of Native Wild Plants, section 45.12 Pennsylvania Endangered, amended September 22, 2023](https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=/secure/pacode/data/017/chapter45/chap45toc.html&d=reduce)
- [Natural Resources Canada, Canada's Plant Hardiness Site: Amelanchier bartramiana](https://planthardiness.gc.ca/index.php?m=7&speciesid=3024074&lang=en)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Amelanchier chapter, Brinkman and Strong](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Amelanchier.pdf)
- [Minnesota Wildflowers: Amelanchier bartramiana](https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/shrub/mountain-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 for insects: the beetles, wasps, cicadas and fireflies that everything else eats](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-insects/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Bartram's Serviceberry, add ?species=bartram-serviceberry with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=bartram-serviceberry&zone=2&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Bartram's Serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=bartram-serviceberry): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=bartram-serviceberry
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Bartram's Serviceberry is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=bartram-serviceberry
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Bartram's Serviceberry needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=bartram-serviceberry:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Bartram's Serviceberry flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.