Alemanchier /June berry are beautiful trees, very pretty blossom at this time of year, stunning autumn colour, Alemanchier canadensis or Lamarkii are great varieties, they make a good hedging shrub, and they are happy in acid soils, and even clay soil. If planting in a container use a free draining ericaceous compost. Hope this helps.
I ve 3 Amalanchier Candensis that i planted about 8-9 years ago and found them disappointing because of slow growth rate (in a sunny southfacing spot where everything else thrives). Also the flowers are just ok and the Autumn colour is nice but there are better small trees out there.
Mine aren't too full of foliage after all these years and kind of look harassed amongst other shrubs in the Garden. Even Japanese Acers are better growers than these.
I have never seen one irl, so can only go on what I see on gardening programmes, but I think of I were to go for one small tree (also never seen irl) I think it would be Malus Evereste over an amelanchier for the blossom - fruit - autumn colour combo. I confess I am a bit puzzled by the amelanchier obsession, as the ones I have seen on the telly always seem a bit, well, sparse...
I also like the look of Liquid Amber Gumball for a small garden tree.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I've got an A.lamarckii that I've had for about 16 years. It spent its first decade and a bit in a fairly large - but not huge - pot. Didn't prune it - actually didn't look after it at all as it got left behind when we moved out of the house, so it wasn't fed or watered for 6 or 7 years. Then it got squashed into a car, a few bits broken off, hoiked out of its pot and put in the ground. It's still alive and happy - tough little thing.
It blossoms after the ornamental cherry but ahead of most other flowers in the garden. The new leaves and blossom combination is gorgeous. It's small and light, which suits some situations where you want a veil rather than a block. And the blackbirds absolutely stuff themselves on the berries in summer.
Malus (and prunus) have heavier blossom - so more 'spectacle' but the birds don't eat the crab apples. Sorbus keep the berries longer because the birds are less keen on those and eat the amelanchier first. It has less vibrant autumn colour than an acer, but better than malus, sorbus or prunus and it's far lass fussy on situation than an acer.
So in a small garden, where you don't want a heavy tree throwing deep shade, where you want early blossom for the bees, good eating for the birds (and yourself if you're very quick) and nice autumn colour from an easy and reliable tree, you end up with amelanchier. It's maybe Jack of all trades, master of none, but if you only have room for one tree, that's often what you need.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Thanks for your explanations, @raisingirl and @Eglantyne, appreciate it. I will endeavour to try and see one somewhere! I will look out for it on my next trip to the French nursery. That is often my problem, I am forced to make most decisions about plants sight-unseen and then order online, because the local choice is very limited.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Damn then, I put in the wrong one lol. I planted an A. Lamarckii last autumn, I should have put something smaller in. But then....i dont think I'll be here for 30 years.
I just looked at the label on it, only symbols no writing but it shows eventual height of 300cms. Hmmm..
We planted this multistemmed amelanchier about three years ago ... this is it last autumn ... this spring it’s been covered with blossom with Scilla followed by forgetmenots around it.
This is it today ... a fabulous little tree 💕
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I planted two Amelanchier Canadensis last autumn. We have heavy clay soil which I tried to improve before planting. They are both doing well with a few leaves this spring. I chose them because of the heavy soil and also didn't want to completely obscure the lovely views of the mountains that we have from our garden.
Posts
they make a good hedging shrub, and they are happy in acid soils, and even clay soil.
If planting in a container use a free draining ericaceous compost.
Hope this helps.
Louise
http://plantsbulbsseeds.com
Mine aren't too full of foliage after all these years and kind of look harassed amongst other shrubs in the Garden. Even Japanese Acers are better growers than these.
I also like the look of Liquid Amber Gumball for a small garden tree.
It blossoms after the ornamental cherry but ahead of most other flowers in the garden. The new leaves and blossom combination is gorgeous. It's small and light, which suits some situations where you want a veil rather than a block. And the blackbirds absolutely stuff themselves on the berries in summer.
Malus (and prunus) have heavier blossom - so more 'spectacle' but the birds don't eat the crab apples. Sorbus keep the berries longer because the birds are less keen on those and eat the amelanchier first. It has less vibrant autumn colour than an acer, but better than malus, sorbus or prunus and it's far lass fussy on situation than an acer.
So in a small garden, where you don't want a heavy tree throwing deep shade, where you want early blossom for the bees, good eating for the birds (and yourself if you're very quick) and nice autumn colour from an easy and reliable tree, you end up with amelanchier. It's maybe Jack of all trades, master of none, but if you only have room for one tree, that's often what you need.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I just looked at the label on it, only symbols no writing but it shows eventual height of 300cms. Hmmm..
We planted this multistemmed amelanchier about three years ago ... this is it last autumn ... this spring it’s been
covered with blossom with Scilla followed by forgetmenots around it.
This is it today ... a fabulous little tree 💕
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.