Amelanchier alnifolia Martin

Amelanchier alnifolia 'Martin' is the earliest variety of Amelanchier with alder-like leaves and offers the largest fruits. They have a particularly sweet flavour, devoid of the typical "green" taste of these berries. However, they are still aromatic, with flavours of ripe cherries and almonds. They are ready to be harvested from early to mid-June, 7 to 8 weeks after the beautiful white flowering. The bush forms a compact habit, suitable for cultivation in pots as well as in fruit hedges or as a free-standing plant. It tolerates very chalky soils.

Native to North America, from Alaska to Maine, the Amelanchier with alder-like leaves is a sturdy bush from the large Rosaceae family, spared by most parasites and resistant to extreme cold. In nature, it is found along watercourses as well as in much less favourable environments, such as rocky slopes exposed to the wind. It prefers slightly acidic and moist soil, but it is adaptable and capable of adapting to relatively dry and hot summers once established. To obtain a good harvest, it will be necessary to provide it with fairly fertile soil and water if necessary.

'Martin' has a rather slow growth, a bit scattered as a young bush, but this attenuates over the years, reaching 2m in height and 1.5m in width. Its bark is grey to brown, sometimes tinged with red. Smooth when young, it becomes rougher over time. The flowering is abundant in April-May, at the end of the young naked branches or already covered with very young leaves, depending on the climate. The flowering and fruiting is quite rapid in this Amelanchier, from the third or fourth year. The 2cm white flowers with 5 petals and yellow stamens are gathered in clusters along the branches. They are followed by round, edible fruits that resemble blueberries, called pomes. They are red and blue and almost black when ripe, between early June and mid-June. They can be consumed fresh or cooked, as jam or jelly. They have great nutritional value, recent analyses confirm their high content of antioxidant molecules, vitamins, and minerals. The fruits have a limited shelf life. They can be consumed fresh, or frozen, dried, or preserved for later use. A single plant is sufficient to obtain a harvest ranging from 3kg to 7-8kg of fruit depending on the soil fertility, but it is often recommended to plant two plants to optimise fruit formation.

The young spring leaves are hairy and then become tougher. They have a pretty green-blue colour and turn yellow in autumn before falling. Measuring up to 5cm in length, they are entire, oval-shaped, with toothed edges, and are arranged alternately on the branches.

The 'Martin' Amelanchier is a sturdy, charming and undemanding fruit bush which deserves a place in a country, informal or fruit hedge and can also be grown in pots. It is also used as a background for perennial or lower shrub borders. It pairs well with ornamental apple and cherry trees, deciduous euonymus, Japanese quince, spring spireas, hawthorns, medlars, prunus, and many others. Create a fruit hedge by associating it, for example, with the May berry (Lonicera kamtschatica Sweet Myberry), garden blackberries, currants, gooseberries, cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon), blueberries, raspberries, Aronia, Japanese goumi, and black elderberry.

The common name 'Saskatoon', an Anglicisation of a word belonging to the Cree language, can be translated as "the fruit of the tree with many branches". This fruit gave its name to the Canadian city of Saskatoon.