© 2024 South Carolina Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Serviceberry Shrubs

Making It Grow Minute
SC Public Radio

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making it Grow. Long after I’m dead and gone, the serviceberry shrubs I’m planting in my pollinator pasture will be providing flowers for native pollinators and fruits for wildlife. Amelanchier is the genus, the common name service berry is from the mountains as it bloomed when the circuit preacher could begin to travel, in the lower part of the state it’s called shad bush for when the shad run. No matter the name, it is a beautiful, easy to grow, native. Again, with the unpredictable rainfalls we are experiencing, remember that you will have to provide new plants with extra water, more than just an irrigation system, for several years after you add them to your landscape. A good mulch and periodic top dressings with compost will help get these plants to the point where they can make it on their own. 

Stay Connected
Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.