We’re berry excited for this extra delicious plant face-off. 

In this week’s shrub showdown, our hosts go head to head with serviceberries and haskaps. Sean represents the former, a member of the Amelanchier genus also known as saskatoons, juneberries, and shadbushes, among other names. With cocky confidence of a guaranteed win, he extols their hardiness (down to zone 1!), their robust hybridization, and their independence when it comes to fertilization. Who needs a pollenizer? Not serviceberry! Sometimes they don’t even need pollinators. With tangents into breeding seedless fruits and food-as-medicine research, we savour serviceberry’s taste, versatility, abundance, ecosystem benefits, and ability to thrive across North America.

Erin swings in second with haskaps, a relatively new fruit on the commercial block. She tells us about breeding programs in near-polar regions around the world that are crossing varieties from Canada, Russia, and Japan for taste and resilience. While haskaps do need pollenizers to set fruit, Erin argues for their ease of care, their long lives, and their bountiful all-at-once harvests. The conversation delves into humane ways of bird-proofing berry crops, the perils of “superfood” marketing, and the fragility of fruit trees that bloom too soon. Haskap blossoms, by the way, can survive a -7 C frost. 

Who made you want to grow their berry of choice in your own garden? Vote for your favourite by tagging us on social media and using the hashtag #PAWFaceOff. 

Citations

Serviceberry Species in Ontario

Muma, W. (n.d.). Serviceberries Group. Ontario Trees and Shrubs. https://ontariotrees.com/main/group.php?id=81

The Downy Serviceberry Tree

Tree Canada, Arbres Canada. (2017, August 6). Downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) - Tree Canada. Tree Canada. https://treecanada.ca/resources/trees-of-canada/downy-serviceberry-amelanchier-arborea/ 

The cultivar “Altaglow”, a dwarf Saskatoon, is hardy to zone 1

Mahr, S. (n.d.). Serviceberry, Amelanchier spp. Wisconsin Horticulture. https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/serviceberry-amelanchier-spp/ 

Serviceberry phytochemical research

Donno, D., Cerutti, A., Mellano, M., Prgomet, Z., & Beccaro, G. (2016). Serviceberry, a berry fruit with growing interest of industry: Physicochemical and quali-quantitative health-related compound characterisation. Journal of Functional Foods, 26, 157–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2016.07.014

Haskap resilience.

Camerise Québec. (2025, January 21). Grow haskap - Camerise Québec. https://camerisequebec.com/en/grow-haskap/

Growing haskaps in Canada resource from the University of Saskatchewan breeding program

Bors, B. & University of Saskatchewan. (n.d.). Growing haskap in Canada. https://research-groups.usask.ca/fruit/documents/haskap/growinghaskapinCanada.pdf

Antioxidants and Vitamin C in haskaps: Specialty Croppertunities

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (n.d.-a). Haskap. Specialty Croppertunities. https://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/CropOp/en/spec_fruit/berries/hask.html

Haskap care for home gardeners

Haskaps - Gardening at USASK - College of Agriculture and Bioresources. (n.d.). Gardening. https://gardening.usask.ca/gardening-advice/gardenline-nested-pages/food-plant-pages/fruit/haskap.php

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