Our native serviceberry didn’t find its way into our yard until April of 2020 when I planted one in my native plant garden. Surprisingly, the small shrub I planted, about three feet tall, bloomed, and set berries in its first year! This is considered an excellent plant for wildlife with its early flowers and nutritious berries. Many people eat the berries before the animals get to them, but I’m going to try to leave the berries for nature except for a few that I grab to start new plants from seed.

Future plans for this plant are to prune it up into a small tree and to keep it watered and fed the first year or two to make sure it gets well established.