Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry (Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’)

Categories: Bird Habitat | GreatPlants for the Great Plains | Mesic Site | Pollination | Small-Sized Trees | Understory Tree | Wildlife

Autumn Brilliance® Serviceberry (Amelanchier × grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’) is a popular small ornamental tree offering white spring flowers, edible summer berries, attractive bark, and brilliant red-orange fall color. Growing approximately 20–25 feet tall and 15 feet wide, it provides four-season interest without requiring the space of a large shade tree.

Clusters of white flowers emerge in spring, providing an early-season floral display and a food source for visiting pollinators. The flowers are followed by small berries that ripen to purplish-black in early summer. The sweet, edible fruit can be enjoyed fresh or used in jams and other recipes—but birds are often quick to find the berries, too.

Blue-green foliage fills out the heavily branched, rounded canopy during summer before developing the brilliant red-orange fall color that gives Autumn Brilliance® its name. Its fall foliage tends to persist well, while smooth, light gray bark and an attractive branching structure provide interest after the leaves have fallen.

Autumn Brilliance® can be grown as either a single-stem small tree or a multi-stem clump, making it versatile for home landscapes, native-inspired plantings, woodland edges, wildlife gardens, and locations where a smaller ornamental tree is needed.

Autumn Brilliance® Serviceberry was selected as a 1998 GreatPlants for the Great Plains winner.