# Nantucket Serviceberry (Amelanchier nantucketensis)

> A rare, low serviceberry of the sandy Atlantic coast that spreads into a colony: white flowers in May and edible blue berries by July.

Also called Nantucket shadbush, Nantucket juneberry. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/nantucket-serviceberry/

![Nantucket serviceberry (Amelanchier nantucketensis) white flowers with spoon-shaped petals on a twig](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/nantucket-serviceberry-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Plant Image Library, CC BY-SA 2.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAmelanchier_nantucketensis_%28Nantucket_Juneberry%29_%2834321014735%29.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 2 to 6 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 8
- Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, the coast, old fields and edges
- Native range: Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Dry, Average
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Rare, Showy flowers, Edible, Wildlife value, Drought tolerant, Fall color
- Sold as: Saplings

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

Nantucket serviceberry is a low shrub of slender, straight, pale gray stems that spreads by underground runners into a thicket. It is a narrow endemic of the Atlantic coast, and the states list it as threatened in Maine and endangered in New York and Rhode Island. Its flowers hold a trick found almost nowhere else among plants: some petals carry pollen on their edges, and a guild of native bees comes for it. It is rare in cultivation. Plant it as a low fruiting hedge on sand, or let a colony take a dry, sunny bank where taller shrubs give up.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Nantucket serviceberry reaches 2 to 6 feet, usually 4 to 5 feet tall and wide in a garden, and a wild colony is often knee high. Our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, a foot and a half of height a year, since no source rates its speed.

Flowers open in late April or May, 6 to 8 to a short upright cluster, with white, spoon-shaped petals. Some petals carry tiny pollen sacs on their edges, a trait almost unknown among plants. The berries turn dark purple-blue in June and July, three eighths of an inch across and edible, and birds take them as they ripen. The leaves turn orange-red in fall.

It grows wild only on the coastal plain from Nova Scotia to Maryland, on sandplain grasslands, heaths, pine barrens and old fields. Its largest stands are on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. A few grow on Long Island, Staten Island and at Great Falls in Maryland, and NatureServe ranks it vulnerable.

## How to grow Nantucket Serviceberry

Nantucket serviceberry wants full sun and a sandy or gravelly soil that drains sharply, dry to average in moisture. It is at home on a bank, a dune edge or an open field, and it is not a plant for wet ground or shade. Set plants 4 feet apart, and keep them 3 feet from a wall or a path, because the runners move outward every year.

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 sandy soil back in, and keep a thin mulch clear of the stems. Seed needs three to four months of cold, damp storage. 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. Some of the seed forms without pollination, and those seedlings match the parent.

Water weekly through the first summer, then only in a long drought, since a rooted colony on sand looks after itself. Rabbits and voles gnaw the thin stems in winter and deer browse the tips, so guard young plants with wire for the first two or three years. Prune only to take out dead stems, and cut back runners that stray past the bed.

A single plant sets fruit, since the species can set seed without pollination. Birds strip the berries as they turn blue in June and July, so net a few stems if you want a bowl. Rust spots can show near junipers and red cedars. Fire blight, leaf spot or powdery mildew can mark it in a wet year, and none of them is serious.

## Sources

- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Amelanchier nantucketensis](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=293434)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Amelanchier nantucketensis](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250100028)
- [New York Natural Heritage Program Conservation Guide: Nantucket Juneberry](https://guides.nynhp.org/nantucket-juneberry/)
- [Maine Natural Areas Program rare plant fact sheet: Amelanchier nantucketensis](https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mnap/features/amenan.htm)
- [Native Plant Trust Go Botany: Amelanchier nantucketensis](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/amelanchier/nantucketensis/)
- [Wikipedia: Amelanchier nantucketensis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier_nantucketensis)
- [Chicago Botanic Garden: Amelanchier nantucketensis](https://www.chicagobotanic.org/plant-information/plant-finder/amelanchier-nantucketensis-nantucket-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 Nantucket Serviceberry, add ?species=nantucket-serviceberry with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=nantucket-serviceberry&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Nantucket Serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=nantucket-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=nantucket-serviceberry
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Nantucket 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=nantucket-serviceberry
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Nantucket 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=nantucket-serviceberry:1
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Nantucket Serviceberry flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.