Subject: Re: Saskatoon Orchard

From: [email-masked] (Peter Benjamin Sharvy)
Date: 16 Jun 1996 13:41:16 -0700

This info is from the Hypercard stack "Edible Landscaping"...

Harvest & Use
Deer, elk, and bears are all fond of saskatoons. Native Americans pounded 
dried buffalo meat together with serviceberries to make pemmican. Plant 
6' apart for a hedge. The fruit is high in vitamin C and attracts birds. 
The robin, eastern phoebe, scarlet tanager, and wood thrush nest in large 
serviceberries and hedges. The plant is a larval host for the western 
tiger swallowtail and Weidemeyer's admiral butterflies.
Appearance
Soft white, 5-petalled blossoms come early in spring. Orangey fall 
colors. Elliptic, toothed leaves; grey bark & twigs. Fruits resemble 
blueberries, the largest reaching 5/8" across. Early in life saskatoons 
tend to be shrubby, but under favorable conditions they often develop 
into small trees.
Cultivation
Saskatoons are members of the rose family, and  susceptible to its 
blights. Its fruits are actually berry-sized pomes. Propagation is by 
woody cuttings, root cuttings, suckers, and seed.
Comment
"Serviceberry" is a case of a popular name referring mainly to a genus 
rather than species. There are several species of serviceberry, at least 
one native to every state. The etymology of "serviceberry" is a gruesome 
yet poignant tale. When overwintering on the Great Plains, the pioneers 
usually had to wait for the ground to thaw to bury their winter dead. 
Only one plant bloomed early enough that its flowers could be laid on the 
graves during funeral services, and so those who did the burying named it 
"serviceberry." The best fruiting species is A. alnifolia,  popularly 
called "saskatoon";  A. X grandiflora  ("apple serviceberry") is an 
ornamental tree with tasty but non-abundant fruit. The saskatoon is an 
historical crop of Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest; the Lewis & 
Clark expedition used it for food. Saskatoons are cultivated commercially 
in Canada, so the most complete sources for plants are unsurprisingly 
Canadian, e.g.:
 The Saskatoon Farm
 RR #1, Dewinton, Alberta, T0L 0X0, Canada
 Phone:  403-938-6245   or 1-800-463-2113
Cultivars of Repute
 Moon Lake: grows six to ten feet high, with large fruit. Productivity 
is inconsistent.
 Pembina: grows ten feet high; fruit is large and sweet.
 Regent: a notably ornamental variety, growing six feet tall with few 
suckers and fruit that is sweet and seedless but allegedly less rich than 
that of other cultivars.
 Smokey: grows eight to ten feet with many suckers and many sweet, mild 
fruits.
 Thiessen: up to 15 feet high; productive, with large, richly flavored 
fruits.

-- 
"Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, who permits the forbidden."
--Rabbi Shabbetai Zevi 1626-?