North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 06:56 AM 6/3/2004 -0700, Lon wrote:
> A. laevis is supposed to grow down to Florida.  "Jennybelle" is a 
> selection of it.

Everything I read indicates that identifying/speciating the Amelanchiers is 
difficult, and it may be splitting hairs - or, maybe there's just a 
division of opinion, but I was under the impression that "Jennybelle" was a 
selection from A.obovata - but if you get down to it, it's purely academic 
as to what specific epithet you attach to it.

I've got "Jennybelle" in my plantings, and while it's still quite young - 
has only fruited for the past 3 years - I'm not overly impressed with 
it.  Certainly less productive than the A.laevis trees in town at the 
library, fruits are not any larger than A.laevis, and I don't think they're 
as tasty as the A.laevis.

Ran across some landscape plantings of serviceberries - I'm presuming some 
A.X grandiflora selection - around a shopping mall & Wendy's restaurant in 
Clarksville, TN, a couple of weeks back, and I was quite impressed with the 
size of the fruits - easily 2X, maybe 3X the size of any of the 
A.alnifolias, A.laevis, or "Jennybelle" - and heavier production than what 
I've experienced with Jennybelle.  No evidence of rust on leaves, branches, 
or fruits.

Lucky Pittman
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY