Serviceberry is, I believe, the first of the wild tree fruit to bloom in the spring, followed by chokecherry and pin cherry. It flowers before its leaves fully emerge and the white flowers stand out against some early leaves that are light brown rather than green. Anyway, early in the spring you can identify serviceberry at 100k as you drive by and notice the white flowers with the copper tinge of the first leaves . Wild bees and honeybees work the blossoms quite keenly for nectar and pollen. Serviceberry and red maple would be amongst their earliest nectar sources. Serviceberry (aka shadbush, Indian plum, saskatoon, Juneberry) is vary variable, from bush to tree size. It seems to like a sunny edge and moist ground, along roads and lake shores. The fruit are red to deep purple as they mature through June and July- and birds like them. Foody factoids: they make a sweeter pie than blueberries. Prolific in the West, saskatoons along with fat and dried meat were the ingredients for pemmican. Serviceberry is one of my signs of spring; it says dandelions won’t be far behind. I’m fortunate to have a permanent bee yard handy to lots of serviceberry trees, so the fruits of the bees’ May labour is just waiting to be snacked on when I work the yard in June.
