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| Hello. I am landscaping around my patio and looking for a tree to block some sun and offer a little privacy along the Southwest side of the patio. I would like to have a tree that offers some berries for the birds. I am thinking of a single trunk Autumn Brillance Serviceberry or a Prairiefire Crabapple. Is there one of these that would be better than the other? I am new to gardening/landscaping. Thanks for any advice. I have included a pic of the area.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74277357@N07/6941994263/in/photostream |
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| Both nice selections. I think the birds would like the serviceberry a little better (you might like them too!) and it might fit the space a little better. The crabapple might offer better sun protection in the future, though but will grow over your neighbors yard if that matters to you. Win-win choices IMO John |
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| I like both crabs and serviceberries (though I grew up calling them shadblow.) In my experience, serviceberries get eaten almost as soon as they are ripe, while crabapples tend to get eaten in Feb - early April when the frost has softened them. The crab we had at our last house provided lots of late winter entertainment, some years robins or cedar waxwings, other years grouse crowding the branches to snatch the fruit. Both trees will get small insect-eating birds around the year as well. The serviceberry has great fall color and I don't know about the Prairie Fire crab, though the crabapple fruit will be decorative. Around here the native serviceberries are healthy, but I have heard some folks say that they have disease problems in other areas. You might want to ask around in your area. In either case, you may end up with fruit dropping onto your patio and potentially causing some staining, so be sure that this won't bother you. |
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| Easy. At least one of each! :-) See how easy that was. Just playing a bit. But really they can easily be planted about every 15', so you just may find that one of each could comfortable fit there. As for crabapples, for feeding birds, smaller crabs are better as it is easier for the birds to eat them. Larger crab are more decorative, but much harder for the birds to eat. I just planted a Golden Raindrops Crabapple a couple weeks ago. Has numerous small yellow fruit in the fall, that is supposed to be readily eaten by birds. The downside of this cultivar is that it doesn't have much resistance to fireblight, so I'm taking a bit of a gamble. The tree is also more of a vase shape. Not trying to sell you on GRD, just make the point about characteristics to address if you plant a crabapple. Those being the color and size of fruit, flower color, possible disease issues, and of course tree shape. We also planted our first Autumn Brillance Serviceberry (funny what buy 1 get 1 free will convince you to do sometimes) a few weeks ago, but we are yet to see how they fair for us. Arktrees |
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| That particular crab seems to have already become obsolete, with more recent selections being better choices. |
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| I planted a Amelanchier x lamarckii about 5 years ago, a fairly large nursery specimen that cost over $100. The first couple years it did okay and had great fruits, but since then it's gotten worse cedar rust every year. The fruits shrivel and it's very unsightly all summer long. I think this is because there is a large Cedar tree (Juniperus virginiana) in the front yard about 30 feet away. Fungicide will treat it, I guess, but that's a pain in the neck. Wish I'd known about this problem - it's growing in a very focal spot and looks terrible. I'm thinking about getting rid of it. |
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| My vote for less mess and great fall color is the Amelanchier. The robins strip mine clean as soon as the fruit ripens. If you are looking for a red-flowering crabapple, this won't help, but another tree that the birds really go for when the crabapples hit the right "sugar" is 'Snowdrift.' As you would infer from the name it blooms white like the Amelanchier. It gets about 20' tall and wide with a somewhat oval shape. It has some fireblight resistance, and good resistance to other crab diseases. It bears persistent (unless the birds knock it off!), small orangish fruit. hortster |
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| Thanks so much to everyone. I really appreciate the help. One more question about the Serviceberry. I have A LOT of wind here. I am up on a hill in a new subdivision w/no houses next to me. Will the Serviceberry stand up to the wind. I want a single trunk variety. I have a 5ft high privacy fence which would shield the trunk some, which should help. A nursery here has a 3 1/2 inch trunk for $375. Expensive, but I like that it is a larger tree to start with. |
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| Suz, that is a large serviceberry and even larger pricetag! If instant gratification is desired and you have the $$$, go for it. Just stay on top of the watering for a few years and plant it properly. If you have a LOT of wind up on a hill, you will most likely have to stake it for a couple years to let it put down some anchoring roots. If you start with a smaller speciman, say shorter than your fence, you can probably skip the stakes. Don't forget, high winds can dry the foliage so make sure the rootball never completely dries out during high wind events during the growing season. And don't drown it lol "That particular crab seems to have already become obsolete, with more recent selections being better choices." What substitutes do you reccomend, bboy? John |
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