There are around 10 species of Amelanchier (also known as the Juneberry) and coming originally from North America, Europe and Asia, they are fully hardy. The flowers have 5 petals and appear on the bare branches just before the first leaves. The leaves slowly emerge and unfurl into an attractive bronze colour which changes to green in summer, then richly coloured red or orange in the autumn. The tree is deciduous but because it is so well behaved, it shows off a neat structure which adds interest throughout the winter months.
We were lucky enough to be given an Amelanchier as a gift when we moved here and for a few years it was potted on in big tubs but now it happily resides in a bed alongside the lawn. It is doing well and will do even better when Doc gets round to hard pruning the overgrown azalea shrubs either side of it.
The best-known species of Amelanchier in this country are the Canadensis and Lamarckii (AGM). Unfortunately we do not know the name or ours because there was no label to accompany it. Some species grow as large shrubs. Since ours is 3 metres tall and looks like a tree, it has obviously decided it is a tree! Our acidic soil definitely brings out the strong autumn colour although I am told that an Amelanchier will tolerate a neutral soil or even a little lime. They do well in full sun but ours has some shade from the large shrubs surrounding it and appears content. Our specimen faces west but it would probably do well in a more a northerly aspect if necessary.
Powdery mildew can sometimes pose a challenge and we deal with it by removing and burning all the fallen leaves in the autumn. Once the shrubs around it are cut back, there will be an increase in air circulation which will also help to control the attacks. If it gets too bad - and only as a last resort - we may have to spray the tree, but only on a calm day to minimise the disruption to the rest of the garden.
We have always loved our Amelanchier because it more or less gets on with the job of growing and giving us a lovely show of colour and structural interest. However, today we realised that we are fortunate to have not one, but two Amelanchiers!
Most gardens have areas that are strictly utilitarian because much as we would like compost bins, piles of ‘useful bricks’ and bags of leaf mould to look attractive, they are not. We chose the area to one side of our shed which is shady thanks to our neighbours’ adoration of very large species conifers and our love of our own beech tree. Doc has landscaped the ground so we have a gravelled area for seating under the shade of the beech tree in summer and it is also the perfect place for pots of hostas. (Putting hostas in open ground in our garden is inviting every slug from miles around to drop round for lunch.)
Doc finished the area off with some trellis which now boasts a lovely evergreen honeysuckle. The trellis finishes with a full stop provided by what was hitherto an un-named sickly looking tree with hardly any branches or leaves. It must have been partially felled decades ago. The remains of the main trunk are sited at an awkward angle probably because it used to strain towards the limited light. At the time the renovations were going on, Doc neither had the energy or motivation to dig out the stump so I took on the job of making it look presentable and behave well enough so I could plant something of interest in front of it. For several years I cut back the whippy stems and to be honest I hacked more than I pruned in the hope the tree would give up altogether. That was until last year when the problems with my painful foot curtailed my gardening activities.
The ‘thing’ as we used to describe it, did not give up. In fact, being felled followed by my harsh treatment does not seem to have done it any harm at all. Perhaps it felt relieved when I became incapacitated! This year, for the first time in 10 years, it has strong new growth and a lovely show of those familiar and welcome star-shaped white flowers with pale bronze leaves which are just about to unfurl. It will never be a tree again, but it has decided that being a shrub is just fine despite the difficult aspect. Isn’t nature amazing?
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