North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

I've said this before, but Dean's comment makes it worth repeating.  That is, there is plenty of room for exploring to find new varieties of Amelanchier.  I've grown Canadian selections here and they all get bad cases of rust, at very least, while the local form has almost no rust, even grown with the Canadian varieties.   Also, the Canadian plants have a "burst" growth habit, which makes them come out, grow, and set buds very early.  By early July here they have finished growing and you can't get anything else out of them for the season, while the local stuff blooms a month later and is still growing until August at least.
In short, while the Canadian selections have tasty fruit, the genus is so widespread there should be many more locally selected types possible than have been brought into cultivation so far.  In many areas it's already time to start watching the local Amelanchier.
=Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
On May 21, 2006, at 8:42 AM, Dean Kreutzer wrote:

Hello all,

Just my 2 cents on saskatoons...

Most people here on the Canadian prairies compare the 'smokey' saskatoon to 
the wild saskatoon in terms of size and flavor compared to other varieties 
of 'tame' saskatoons.  What I find quite funny is that almost all varieties 
of saskatoons have been selected from the wild so there aren't any 'tame' 
ones!

Smokey is fine, but it is smaller in size than others.  I prefer Martin, 
Thiessen, Honeywood, & Pembina.  Martin & Thiessen are very large and 
impressive.  Honeywood is a bit later blooming and more dwarfing so for my 
own uses that is the one I would plant.  I've had Northline at one orchard 
that is excellent and in another location is was quite bad; it may be a lot 
more particular about soil.

One cautionary note is that they are plagued by plenty of pests and diseases 
and thus are almost impossible to grow organically.  To put that into 
perspective, we have an average of 10" rain each year with very low humidity 
and I grow everything in my orchard organically without spraying (apples, 
cherries, apricots, plums, etc.)  It will be interesting to see how they do 
in NE US.

Dean Kreutzer
Over the Hill Orchards
www.overthehillorchards.ca
(306)530-9133


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