Smoky Saskatoon (Serviceberry) vs Thimbleberry - TreeTime.ca

Smoky Saskatoon (Serviceberry) vs Thimbleberry

Rubus parviflorus

Amelanchier alnifolia Smoky

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

COMING SOON

(new stock expected: fall of 2025)

Thimbleberry
Smoky Saskatoon (Serviceberry)

Thimbleberry is an ornamental shrub with large, green maple-like-leaves. Flowers are attractive, fragrant, and turn into red-raspberry-like berries. The berries are good for jams, cakes, breads, muffins etc. If you remove the berry, the core resembles a thimble, giving this shrub its namesake.

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.

Thimbleberry Quick Facts

Smoky Saskatoon (Serviceberry) Quick Facts

Zone: 4a
Zone: 1a
Height: 1.5 m (5 ft)
Height: 4 m (14 ft)
Spread: 1.5 m (5 ft)
Spread: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: any
Moisture: normal
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: fast
Life span: medium
Life span: short
Suckering: none
Suckering: medium


Foliage: Soft leaves up to 8 inches across
Fall colour: gold
Fall colour: orange to red
Flowers: white, showy
Berries: edible, red, similar to raspberries
Berries: produces large edible berries great for eating raw
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


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