The answer is petals….and the original owner of those petals is the Snowy Mespilus, or Amelanchier.

One of the finest and least demanding of small trees for the garden, whose virtues I’ve already hinted at previously, as March gives way to April and the countless thousands of poised Amelanchier flower buds open, I thought it high time to give these plants centre stage for a while.

Members of the Rose family – like so many other of the finest Spring-flowering woody plants – Amelanchier is a small and rather confused genus of trees and shrubs. There are anywhere between 6 and 35 species, depending on whose definition you believe. They are all, essentially, identical in their ornamental features, and what’s more the species have interbred with abandon to the point that definitive identification of many plants is all but impossible.

One species, A. lamarckii, is a good example. Considered to be a naturalised British plant, where colonies have spread thanks to the assistance of birds, this plant is, like all but two of the Amelanchiers, a native of North America, but “our” Amelanchier is not the same as the species that grows in the USA, and could be a different species, such as A. canadensis or A. laevis, or a hybrid of one or more of these species, or a hybrid with one of the indigenous Euro-Asian species. The truth is that the differences between all of the species are so small, and variable, that the best anyone can say is that an individual plant is closest to, say A. lamarckii…well, maybe.

Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Ballerina'.

But enough of that confusion, let’s focus instead on the many good points of these delightful trees. Their common names give a few hints of their attractions and also the considerable importance that the plants played in the lives of Native American and European settlers alike. Snowy Mespilus, as already noted, refers to the wonderful blizzard of innumerable tiny petals that grace the trees and then the ground beneath the trees as Spring progresses. “Mespilus” are the Medlars, further members of the Rose family, and ones to which the Amelachiers bore a resemblance in the eyes of the first Europeans to document the new North American flora. The names “shadbush”,” shadwood” or “shadblow” are also references to the flowering season, which coincides with the arrival of the Shad – a fish that formed a staple food for many of those same early settlers.

The flowers are only one of the appeals of the Amelanchiers, however and “serviceberry” and “juneberry” are further much-used common names. These, of course, refer to the fruit – a red-purple berry that eventually matures to black which was considered to resemble the berries of the wild European Service Tree – Sorbus domestica. The fruit are edible, and in the best varieties, quite delicious, which characteristic gives rise to yet more common names including “sugarplum”,”wild-plum”, and “Indian pear”, again, all hinting at the importance of the plant in the lives of the early populations of  North America.

The fully ripe fruit of Amelanchier alnifolia.

To the Cree Native Americans the plant was “misâskwatômina”, a name that was Europeanised into “saskatoon”, after which the town of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, was named. Finally, while we’re talking names here, Amelanchier itself is derived from “amalenquièr” the Provençal name for the European species: Amelanchier ovalis, and, despite some sources that might state otherwise, the name is pronounced:  amma-LANK-ee-er, with a hard “K” sound, which perhaps becomes more obvious when seen against it’s French language counterpart.

Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Robin Hill'.

Amelanchiers produce an abundance of flowers from a very young age, and even the tiniest specimen will pop out a handful of blooms. Within a few years all of the branches of that plant will be fully laden with blossom each Spring. Once opened the flowers are joined by the new foliage which is often flushed with bronze or copper, making for a magnificent contrast and highlighting those dazzling white flowers all the more.

Amelanchier lamarckii with deep red/bronze new foliage.

So we have a tremendous Spring display followed by branches smothered by small, but highly decorative, edible fruit, but these trees have one final trick up their sleeves as the foliage can turn to glorious shades of orange and red in a good, crisp Autumn.  Amelanchiers display their autumn finery with great gusto and reliability in North America, although the colour can be patchy of even absent here in the UK, but that is entirely to do with our erratic, maritime climate rather than any failing on the part of the plants.

Virtually all Amelanchiers are capable of producing fiery autumn foliage under the right conditions.

Despite the presence of numerous selections in cultivation – the RHS Plantfinder currently lists 44 named forms – Amelanchiers are a pretty homogeneous lot, and really there is very little to choose between them. A. x grandiflora ‘Ballerina’ was selected for it’s larger flowers and is now very widely distributed. It’s a lovely plant, but we have it growing amidst 10 or so other named forms, and frankly I’m hard pushed to tell them apart from one another.  There are a few genuinely different selections however. The lovely pale-pink flowered form A. x grandiflora ‘Rubescens’, and pink-fading-to-white-flowered ‘Robin Hill’; the slender, upright growing A. alnifolia ‘Obelisk’ & similar A. canadensis ‘Rainbow Pillar’ and the much smaller growing A. rotundifolia ‘Helvetia’ and equally compact species A. stolonifera are all distinctive.

Amelanchier 'Obelisk' - not exactly fastigiate, but the closest to an upright form the genus has to offer.

Aside from these last two, all Amelanchiers are vigorous, as well as undemanding and easy to grow in many garden situations. Depending on how they are treated and grew as young plants they can form graceful, slender trees or multi-stemmed, more-or-less globular large shrubs. The plants can eventually get quite substantial, but they retain an airy, light quality to them and the slender leaves don’t cast a great deal of shade, even in mid summer. Plants may also be pruned after flowering to retain a desired shape or keep them to a fixed size. Amelachier are tolerant of a wide range of soils, including heavy clay and even water-logging, although young plants should be mound-planted if soil is permanently wet to allow the roots to find their own way through rather than simply plunged into a soggy hole.

Amelanchier canadensis in full autumn colour in the UK.

All parts of the plants are edible and are evidently quite appealing to a variety of browsing animals, from harmless leaf-cutter bees through to more potentially damaging rabbits and deer, so young Amelanchiers should be given some protection where appropriate. They are generally very healthy plants too, although they can suffer from fungal leaf spot, particularly if grown in sheltered areas with limited air movement. Treatment of the newly emerging foliage, together with collection of fallen leaves in autumn will keep this problem in check should it appear, and an opening up of the canopy of more congested plants will help prevent it’s re-occurrence.

Amelanchier stolonifera - the smallest growing of the species.

If sheer flower power in early to mid Spring is your thing, then, whichever form, species, or selection you choose, you won’t find a better small tree than the Snowy Mespilus, and adding one to your garden will ensure that you’ll always have at least a little of the right kind of snow, right where you want it every March and April.

Two approaches that I’ve regularly come across are :  a) ruthlessly cut everything back or:  b) do nothing. Ever. There is also a common misconception that pruning is a kind of “dark art” best left to professionals, and/or a belief that every single plant has it’s own required pruning regime, but really neither are the case, and a few simple rules will suffice for most of your woody garden inhabitants.

The other oft-seen idea is that trees and shrubs always need to be pruned on an annual basis. The most frequent outcome of this approach is that spring flowering trees and shrubs never actually flower or set fruit in such gardens, because, of course, all their lovely dormant flower buds were merrily chopped off in the name of tidying-up the plant.

Winter allows a much clearer view of the arrangement of branches.

Pruning-wise you can divide pretty much all of your flowering trees and shrubs into three categories:

1. Spring flowering, which, as in the example above, always means that flower buds are set on the previous years wood. Such plants should only be pruned immediately after flowering, allowing them the remainder of the growing season to set the buds for the next years’ flowers.

2. Summer/Autumn flowering, which generate their flower buds on new wood that is created through the course of the same growing season. These plants should be pruned in winter.

3. Tender plants, which, regardless of their flowering season, should only ever be pruned when they are in full growth and all danger of frost has passed. Earlier pruning of such plants will often encourage widespread dieback and/or trigger growth too early in the year.

In addition, Winter is the preferred time of pruning for many trees because cut branches will not bleed sap whilst they are dormant, plus the bare leafless branches allow better access to and visibility of the branches. Still, whatever the time of year, the first consideration though is why prune at all?

It’s worth bearing in mind that woody plants do not prune themselves when growing in the wild, so there is no inherent need to prune from the plants’ perspective. For the gardener, though, there are some definite benefits. Before looking at shape and size the first consideration should always be to look for and then remove any dead, diseased or damaged branches.

Wood that is dead but still attached to a tree or shrub is a prime reservoir for infection – bacterial and fungal – that can easily spread into the healthy tissue of the plant. Likewise branches already showing the effects of disease threaten the health, or even the survival of the whole plant. Bacterial canker is common, particularly on fruit trees, and an array of fungi are all too ready to set up home too.

Coral Spot - a very common fungal disease of dead branches.

Dead and diseased branches should be taken back into clean, healthy wood. On shrubs this means cutting to just above a pair of growth buds, whilst tree branches should be taken back to live wood or removed entirely back to the trunk, depending on the shape and symmetry of the plant.

Cutting back to just above a pair of live buds.

Shrubs and trees are also subject to damage over winter. The last two UK winters, in particular, have brought extremes of cold and snowfall, both of which can cause severe damage. The weight of snow and/or ice can easily cause branches to shatter and tear, leaving large open wounds, whilst severe cold on it’s own can produce bark split as the sap freezes and expands.

Major wounds are also major sources of infection, and, as before, branches should be cut back cleanly into healthy wood, thus reducing the surface area for infection and preventing necrosis from taking hold in the damaged tissue.

When taking branches back to the trunk it’s important not to leave snags and stubs. These stubs will inevitably die back, potentially infecting the main trunk. It’s even more critical not to cut into the trunk itself. Trees have a natural infection barrier that is centred on their trunk and main branches, and, where possible, they will act to isolate dying material and reduce the potential for infection… so long as that barrier is not itself damaged by poor pruning!

Cutting back to the trunk using a pruning saw.

Large branches should be handled with great care and some forethought. Their weight can easily lead to them tearing away in mid-prune, ripping the bark and causing further wounding. Such branches should be cut first on the lower side, to relieve the weight pressure, with the cut being finished off from above. It can also be handy to have a trusty helper on hand to support the weight of branches to prevent tearing and allow a clean cut.

Having dealt with the sickly, damaged wood you can then consider shaping and sizing. Again, most plants don’t need to be cut back, but they may have outgrown their position, or require attention to restore balance and create a more pleasing shape.

Young trees, in particular, can benefit from some formative pruning to encourage the development of a strong leader, or to remove twiggy side shoots, particularly in instances where you’re seeking to create a handsome, clean trunk  once the tree has grown to maturity.

Formative pruning to open up the trunk of a young tree.

Another good reason for pruning is to promote a flush of growth once Spring arrives. This is the ideal way to restore vigour to tired looking shrubs whose flowering has started to wane. Many garden shrubs end up flowering at their uppermost points only. This may be where the most light and pollinating insects will be found – which are the reasons the plant is flowering in the first place – but when such flowers are pretty much out of reach then the time for action has arrived. Consider how much growth the plant is likely to put on each season and the level at which you would ideally like to have the flowers and the “bulk” of the plant, then shape accordingly.

Many entire books have been written about pruning, so this is a necessarily brief run-through of the subject, but before you reach for those loppers, secateurs or saw there are another couple of important issues to consider. Firstly, tools. It’s no good trying to tackle a tree branch with a pair of secateurs, nor a whippy shrub with a pruning saw, so make sure that you have the right tool(s) for the right plants.

Pruning Tools to tackle any eventuality.

It’s equally important to make sure those tools are sharp or you risk creating jagged surfaces and torn bark. Finally always consider plant hygiene. If you have just removed a branch that was harbouring disease then your pruning tool will very likely be carrying the spores of that disease with it to the next healthy wood that you cut into. Disinfecting tools regularly is therefore vital. There are proprietary disinfectants that will do the job, but boiling water works equally well.

The final consideration, but again, one that need to be sorted before you begin, is on treatment of the cut surfaces. Small cuts and shrubby branches don’t require any treatment, but wounds on larger branches do need attention to minimise the potential infection.

The advice used to be to fully seal such wounds and a variety of paints and tars were (and still are) marketed for the purpose. It’s now known that this is entirely counter-productive, since a galaxy of bacterial and fungal spores are ever present in the air and are thus transferred to the cut as soon as you make it. By sealing the cut you seal these spores into the tree and actually encourage infection and discourage natural healing. Breathable balms are now the way to go and help to promote regrowth and healing whilst combating the potential for infection.

Pruning Balm.

Sadly, during the extreme cold snap we lost one of our chickens, Siennna (Miller), due to a very nasty illness which luckily didn’t spread to the other four chooks.  Egg production has been greatly reduced for the last 6 weeks, and I have had to buy eggs from time to time from the local farm-shop.  When chickens moult and also when it is so very cold, the chooks have to preserve themselves to keep warm, and grow new feathers, so their body very cleverly stops manufacturing eggs …  nature never fails to amaze me.  Anyway, on Friday I phoned up my chicken man, to check if he had any chooks available, and fortunately he did.  So I popped over to his farm with an empty Ocado crate and collected two new birds …  Versace and Mildred!  Mildred is very similar in colouring to Matilda, so seems to have been accepted by the others readily, however they have taken a dislike to poor Versace and are pecking her and bullying her, but I have been assured that this is quite normal, and this is where the term ‘Pecking Order’ comes from.

My vegetable patch is looking a bit sad at the moment, with just a few leeks and parsnips left to harvest.  My red chard suffered from it’s covering of snow for about 3 weeks, so it is nearly time to plough up the soil and add some manure in preparation for this years crops.

We continue to feed the birds with high energy bird nuts daily.  However, I am struggling to feed my own family at the moment thanks to a shortage of LPG Gas in Southern England, and the backlog of deliveries due to snow.  I have turned off my Aga and will probably have to turn off the heating by the end of the week if my delivery is not made …  oh how I wish I lived with mains gas!  So today I am not inspired to cook and hopefully will add a recipe next time.

As I write this we are having our first frosty spell of the winter in the South East.  For those elsewhere who have escaped thus far, may I remind you to fleece up or move to shelter all those tender things in pots that might be harmed.  The next few weeks are likely to be the really bleak, icy ones and – remembering last year’s minus 11 degrees – anything can happen with the weather, anywhere, with little warning.  Take comfort in the fact, however, that the days start to lengthen noticeably by the second half of the month.  Meanwhile, if it is too horrid to garden, just enjoy doing a little forward planning:  sit around in your socks leafing through seed catalogues.  Happy New Year.

New house where the EcoCharlie garde nis being set up

I have found that by melting some lard and adding bird seed and any scraps left over from toast etc then putting the whole mixture into a bowl I can take out the food in the morning and then bring in the old bowl to replenish in the evening.  I have also ventured out to knock the snow from the conifers before the snow breaks any branches.  As the sun is shining today I am off to take some pictures of my beautiful area.

Greenhouse in the garden - Snowing!

We also like to check the many pots that we have around the garden, looking to see if the plants in them require re-potting or if anything nasty is hiding, slugs, snails or Vine weevil. If we do find the dreaded Vine weevil grubs we change the soil and check the roots of the plants thoroughly removing as much of the soil as possible.  We discard the soil onto area of garden that is not used and let the birds do the rest.  Our resident little Robin likes a treat of fat juicy grubs.  The plants are then re-potted into fresh compost.  Any slugs and snails or the eggs for that matter get removed to our compost heaps.  The large pots have the top layer of soil removed and a fresh layer of garden compost put on for a feed and mulch.  Plants that are susceptible to slug damage also have a thick layer of Eco-Charlie slug and snail deterrent put around them. Lastly we clear around the pots picking up and removing any leaves and rubbish that has accumulated.

SNOW! 1 foot of the stuff!