You are the man Konrad!, I have an anjou pear and thought it was strictly a zone 5 pear!Do they mature enough in your short growing season to be any good? I'm going to try gafting to wild service berry this spring for fun,i may try apple on them too to see if they take as well. Yes I did go out there to work, I worked in Nisku for an oil rig manufacturer called Cassidy Engineering. I never fished pigeon lake as it was always like a beach with hundreds if not thousands of people in the summer.Fished others wizard,jackfish,star,wobamen,ashland dam, Genesee by the power station before they closed it to the public. But the very best place was on the north Saskatchewan river just outside Genesee, always caught something big,pike over 3 foot the biggest was 41 inches(wife caught it) biggest walleye 6 lbs, man those were good times. I always had this idea that fruit variety wasn't achievable in such a cold climate with a short growing season but you sure are a pioneer my hats off to you konrad. Glenn

Saskatoons (frequently called June berries here) grow wild in the lower elevations of the mountains in my area up to around 7,000 feet. When found wild, they are growing near streams where the soil stays moist without being too wet. I have one that turned up growing with a flowering almond I bought some years ago, along with a dogwood, and the almond died. They are an attractive bush, turning bright orange/red in fall and masses of white flowers in May. I have it planted in an area that is very gravelly and it dries out too quick, so has stayed very small, but it produces berries every year. The berries closest to the branch tend to ripen first, then the ripening moves further out to the end of the fruit mass. Very good, and as Chills mentioned, kind of blueberry like with a hint of almond, which makes them better than blueberries in my book since I only tolerate blueberries. You'll have to fight the birds for them, though.

Hey all, been doing a little research on both saskatoons/Juneberries and haskaps. Haskaps essentially come from three places, Siberia, Japan, and the Kuril Islands. The Siberians (early bloomers) are more tart and the Japanese later blooming) are closer to sweet. The Siberian varieties (Blue Belle, Berry Blue, etc) are hardier than the Japanese. One Green World in Oregon reported that they have varieties that actually get sweet and have much better flavor than blueberries. I would talk to them to get more details. The UofSK varieties (Tundra, Borealis, etc) are sweeter than Japanese, but bloom with the Siberian varieties. They have a bloom hardiness of 20 degrees F so they can survive a late frost if it is not too severe. For those of us in areas where late frost/rain is a problem, I've deduced that the Japanese varieties would be the most consistent producers. As for juneberries/saskatoons, they are early bloomers. There are varieties that bloom slightly later than others (Northline and Honeywood), but they will still bloom earlier than most other fruits. These are also broken up into three general categories: grandiflora (primarily for color but have good edible fruit as well), canadensis (tend to be larger, more colorful, and are also have good flaovored fruit), and alnifolia (tend to be shorter and have higher fruit quality with better flavor). These are generalizations of course. Grandiflora and canadensis varieties do better east of the Mississippi and alnifolia varieties do better in the west. Regent is the exception to the east/west rule. I haven't read anything to indicate that they have frost hardy fruits or blooms, so my bet is that you will need to cover them in the event of a late storm. Smokey was heavily planted initially because of its sweetness, but other varieties that have better flavor have begun to replace it. Northline, Martin and Honeywood are three that I remember off the top of my head. Lee #3 and Lee #8 are newer, varieties that stay under 10 feet and show promise. Bill Mackently at St Lawrence Nursery is a good source of info on them. Again, all of the info I have on both of these fruit types has been obtained from research. Any fruit tree/bush will respond differently to varied soil and climate conditions. I suspect that the relative bloom times (early/late) and soil likes/dislikes will remain fairly constant. Hope something in my little discourse helps. Good luck.

Sorry for the belated response to this. Heather, I've got three Saskatoon berry trees and only one of them is doing well in my garden. They are from a Saskatoon Berry farm that was going out of business, so they should be locally adapted. They were purchased dormant in November of 2008 and planted immediately. Maybe I didn't water them enough the first year, or perhaps the grub pressure was too great. They are not diseased-- they just aren't thriving. If you'd like to give them a second chance in your soil, you're welcome to them. Also, I have three Amsonia tabernaemontana for you. Contact me off-board so we can figure out a drop off spot and maybe a trade. - Bev