Serviceberry Time
One of the great things about being confined to our home is to watch the near-daily changes in our garden since we can’t go far afield to catch the blossoms somewhere else. The flowers that were in full bloom just a week ago are fading and new ones are taking their place. Right now, it’s the serviceberries (Amelanchier alnifolia) that are putting on their spring show.
The serviceberries are the white flowers in the photo. Behind them are the brilliant yellow flowers of golden currant (Ribes aureum). Both shrubs are native to Washington state, although the currant is an east of the mountains species. Also starting to bloom is great camas (Camassia leichtlinii), another Pacific Northwest native.
Serviceberry blossoms look a bit like a ragged mess from a distance.
When you get up close you can see that the flowers really do have five petals and a mass of stamens in the center, fairly typical of plants in the rose family.
Just two weeks ago, on April 14, these flowers were only a tight clump of buds. I featured this garden bed in my post on April 15, so you can compare the growth and changes.
In just a few more days I expect that the camas, with its mass of purple blooms, will dominate the show in this front yard garden bed. But for now, I’m going to enjoy our serviceberries. Come mid-summer we should have some tasty fruit from them, too.