Smoky Saskatoon (Serviceberry) vs Gray Dogwood - TreeTime.ca

Smoky Saskatoon (Serviceberry) vs Gray Dogwood

Amelanchier alnifolia Smoky

Cornus racemosa

COMING SOON

(new stock expected: fall of 2026)

CUSTOM GROW

Smoky Saskatoon (Serviceberry)
Gray Dogwood

Smoky Saskatoon is a large deciduous shrub that suckers and produces edible fruit. Smoky Saskatoons are one of the most productive and widely used Saskatoons and have large sweet berries with good yields.

One of the oldest and first good yielding cultivars, a majority of the commercial saskatoon orchards were based on this cultivar until Northline and other cultivars were introduced.

Smoky has slightly smaller fruit than Northline and a milder taste but is not acidic like Pembina, Thiessen or Honeywood.

Gray dogwood is a thicket-forming, deciduous shrub with greenish-white blossoms in open, terminal clusters. Young twigs are red and the fruit pedicels remain conspicuously red into late fall and early winter.

Fruit itself is a white, 1/4 in. drupe that usually does not remain on the shrub for long.

Great for naturalizing wild areas, this shrub attracts birds and other wildlife.

Smoky Saskatoon (Serviceberry) Quick Facts

Gray Dogwood Quick Facts

Zone: 1a
Zone: 4a
Height: 4 m (14 ft)
Height: 3 m (10 ft)
Spread: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Spread: 3 m (10 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: any
Moisture: normal
Moisture: any
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: slow
Life span: short
Life span: medium
Suckering: medium
Suckering: medium


Fall colour: orange to red
Fall colour: deep, reddish puple
Berries: produces large edible berries great for eating raw
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, YT, NT
Native to: MB, ON, QC
Other Names: alder-leaf shadbush, dwarf shadbush, pacific serviceberry, pigeon berry, smokey saskatoon, smokey serviceberry, western juneberry, western serviceberry