🌿 Understory GuidePlant FinderGuild Builder

Allegheny serviceberry

Amelanchier laevis · Rosaceae

Allegheny serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis)
Photo: (c) Evan M. Raskin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · via iNaturalist

Allegheny serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis) is a perennial shrub in the Rosaceae family. It is native to North America. USDA records it as hardy in zone 3 and warmer, down to about -38°F.

At a glance

Typeshrub USDA
Lifecycleperennial USDA
Native statusnative USDA
Mature height35 ft USDA
Lightshade USDA
Water needmedium USDA
Growth ratemoderate USDA
Soil pH4.8–7 USDA
BloomMarch–April USDA
Flower colorWhite USDA
Hardiness zones3 and warmer USDA
Guild layershrub Derived
Nursery availabilityNo Known Source USDA

USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database · Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.

Growing conditions

It tolerates full shade. USDA rates it as having moderate water needs. It is recorded on soils from pH 4.8 to 7 — a broad range that spans acidic through mildly alkaline ground. Its cold limit is zone 3; USDA publishes no warm-end limit, so gardeners in warmer zones should check local heat tolerance separately.

Size and growth

At maturity it reaches about 35 ft, making it a substantial woody plant. It grows at a moderate rate, which matters when you are timing a planting around the layers above it.

Bloom period

USDA records a bloom period of March through April. The flower color USDA records is white. Bloom timing is how the Guild Builder overlaps flowering across a planting so something is in flower for as much of the season as possible.

Bloom period is a claim about when this plant flowers. It is deliberately not a pollinator rating — no dataset we trust publishes one, so we do not make that claim. See Data & sources.

Role in a guild

Shrub layer. In a layered planting this is woody mid-level structure between the understory and the ground. We derive the layer from the plant's growth habit and mature height using a fixed rule, so the same inputs always produce the same layer.

Build a guild around Allegheny serviceberry →

Tags

deciduousdrought-tolerantwet-tolerantsandy-soilnativeshade-tolerant

Related plants

Others in Amelanchier

Similar role and hardiness

Where this data comes from

Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol AMLA, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.

Read our full data sources and methodology.

Find more plants for your zone with the Plant Finder.