Introducing the unusual delights of the Saskatoon berry

AUGUST is an incredibly busy month for us at RHS Garden Harlow Carr as there are plenty of jobs to do in the Kitchen Garden, especially fruit harvesting. The fruit bushes are laden with berries and I have never seen fruit as good as this year - the bushes cannot cope with the amount of fruit growing on them.

A popular question from the visitors is why don’t you pick the fruit? And how come the birds don’t eat them? The answers are that we do pick every day but, you cannot tell we have been there and the birds also cannot eat as many berries as the bushes have produced.

An unusual berry which has taken my interest this year is the Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia). The name is derived from the Cree word “Mis-sask- quah-too-mina” which means “the fruit of the tree of many branches” a word that also sounds similar to “Saskatoon”. They are known by a number of common names, including serviceberry, juneberry, sugar pear and Indian pear, and are native to North America, growing wild from Alaska to Maine in hedges, forests and on hillsides.

Saskatoons produce a deep purple fruit that looks much like blueberries, but are more closely related to the apple family, although they are in the same family as roses. They produce a wonderful display of fragrant flowers with attractive foliage. Saskatoon’s are not actually berries, but are pomes, like apples and pears. They make excellent ornamental shrubs for the garden and are very hardy, being able to withstand cold winters and drought. Saskatoons can be found growing on most soil types, unlike the acid-loving blueberry. However, they prefer deep, sandy to loamy soils which are well drained. There are different varieties ranging from different sizes to meet your requirements

Some varieties of saskatoons include:

Honeywood: Very vigorous, late blooming variety, flavourful fruit with few seeds.

Northline: upright, spreading shrub grows to 2.5 metres and produces sweet berries.

Smoky: Upright, spreading smoky suckers freely and grows three metres high. Fleshy fruit excellent for jams and jellies.

Plant spacing will depend on the variety, but the guidelines are 6.5 metres between rows and a minimum of 1 metre within the rows. Propagation is very simple and can be done easily from seed, divisions, root cuttings, softwood cuttings or grafting a saskatoon branch onto other trees such as apples and pears.

The saskatoon berries are very high in fibre, protein and antioxidants. They are also considered a better source of calcium than red meats, vegetables and cereals. Lots of people describe the taste as a sweet, nutty almond flavour. They can be used fresh or frozen and in a wide variety of ways, from jams, jellies, wine, pies and many more.