Shadblow Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) - white flowers, illustrated plant cardIllustration

Shadblow Serviceberry

Amelanchier canadensis

Also called canadian serviceberry, eastern serviceberry, thicket serviceberry and shadbush serviceberry

Shadblow Serviceberry blooms from April through May.

Bloom calendar
Bloom time
Apr–May
checked
Hardiness
Zones 4–8
checked
Sun
Part shade
checked
Water
Moderate water
checked
Mature size
24 ft × 17 ft
checked
Type
Tree
house classification

Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.

Growing Shadblow Serviceberry

Plant it in part shade. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 4–8. Expect it to reach about 24 ft tall and 17 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 10 years (a house reading).

Pets

  • Not yet checked for pets.

Lists differ and none is complete. If a pet eats a plant and seems unwell, call a veterinarian or a pet poison helpline.

No toxicity note is on file for Shadblow Serviceberry. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.

Verification
What was checked

Nine facts were checked against named botanical sources, each recorded beside the sources that carried it: mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, the trait tags, and years to mature size, which rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one and is marked so. Soil, diseases, pests, toxicity and the plant's own names have not yet been read for this plant, and its trait tags are the ones a feature uses rather than every word a page prints. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.

See the 6 sources it was checked against

When to plant Shadblow Serviceberry

Plant Shadblow Serviceberry in early spring as soon as the soil is workable, or in early fall at least six weeks before your first frost, so roots establish in cool weather. In zone 6, the middle of its hardy zones 4 to 8, spring means March to May and fall means August or September. Once settled, it blooms from April to May.

Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 6, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 6 in March. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.

How big does Shadblow Serviceberry get?

Illustration of Shadblow Serviceberry drawn to scale beside an adult24 fttall5 ft 7 inan adult17 ftwide
About 24 ft tall and 17 ft wide at maturity: about 4 times as tall as an adult.

See Shadblow Serviceberry in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.

How far apart to plant Shadblow Serviceberry

Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.

Give Shadblow Serviceberry about 17 ft of clear ground in every direction, measured from its center. It is one plant with room around it, not a row, and a raised bed is too small for it.

Clear ground around it
17 ft in every direction

Add Shadblow Serviceberry to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.

Where these facts come from

Shadblow Serviceberry's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags were checked against 6 published sources on October 21, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources.

  • abnativeplants.comAmerican Beauties Native Plantsheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags
  • Missouri Botanical GardenPlant Finderheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags
  • NC State ExtensionPlant Toolboxheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags
  • pridescorner.comPrides Corner Farmsheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun and bloom months and color
  • The Morton Arboretumheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun and water
  • RHSRoyal Horticultural Societysun, water and bloom months and color

How the checking works, and what each standard covers, is on the verified plants page.

Where it grows wild

Native to 18 states and 4 provinces

United States: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and 6 more

Canada: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec

Recorded growing wild in 208 counties.

Also grows wild, but is not native, in Illinois.

Range data from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 4.0, adapted) and USDA PLANTS. How the native range is credited.

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Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.

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