How much sun is it getting? I think serviceberry benefits from 5-6 hours of sun and that directly affects its ability to bloom.

esh, It gets east light in the morning, maybe 2 hrs. , general diffused
north during the day, and a hit of west for an hour at about 4 pm.
I thought it was an understory shrub/tree and would bloom in lower light conditions ?
If it needs more light I can move it to the front in a more open
position in the spring after I wait to see if it blooms next year.
Pixie

Pixie, I think you might be able to tell already if it is going to bloom. When I look at my dormant serviceberries now (and I have several), they have elongated plump buds (perhaps 3/8 of an inch long) with just a bit of white fluff in the tip of the bud. These are in sun here in zone 7. Sun is defined as 6 hours or greater.

When I look at a young tree that I rescued that is in a pot in the shade (so it is young, stressed and in shade), it has much smaller buds (perhaps 3/16 of an inch) that are not as plump and any white fluff that is showing is very tiny.

Now I am a zone ahead of you, but you might be able to inspect your tree for these characteristics. Of course moving it now will not affect next spring's bloom anyway so you could wait until spring. A much more shade tolerant tree might be the American styrax. Mine bloomed beautifully in shade this year.

It's not an understory plant, it's a woodland edge or open field type of plant. I've seen 3 foot plants flowering profusely in old pastures, and larger plants in heavier shade with very few flowers. If you have a sunnier spot you might want to consider moving it if you want a good flowering display.

Thanks for the information, the buds are small ,narrow, and delicate- leaf not flower buds I suspect. It has such a beautiful
vase shape I'd like to move it in front of an evergeen to highlight
the winter form. This would be a full sun position. Can I keep it
small and delicate in full sun?
esh, I have a line of stryax along the fence, limbed high because
the horizontal spread is 10 ft . I believe they are Japanese not
American. What is the difference? Pixie

I have 3 serviceberry in deep shade inside my woods and they bloom and form fruit just satisfactorily.

I think your shrub may just be a bit stressed from the move so I would just leave it be. Ideally more sun would be beneficial but I think another move would just stress it further.

In deep shade my shrubs don't get as MANY blooms and fruits as they would in more sun but they do just fine. The autumn colours aren't as dramatic either but they still turn orange, just not as brilliant as the ones that are in sun.

Barb
southern Ontario, CANADA zone 6a

Hi Pixie,

I don't really know the difference between the American and the Japanese styrax. I've never looked into the japanese one, only having my American ones through rescue efforts in development areas.

knottyceltic,
Thanks for you're input. We had an extreme drought this summer. The corner where the serviceberry lives is normally a moister area that completely dries out in the summer. This year that area suffered the most.I just couldn't water enough .
Pixie

Hello. I have 7 young standing ovation serviceberries that were planted in late May here in the Twin Cities, MN. They have afternoon western exposure. They are planted on a slight incline with mulch, have had adequate water I believe, but they just aren't growing, have very few leaves. Is this stress from planting? Have deer been nibbling? Should I fertilize? We had a terrible winter last year and I am worried they won't make it through another winter lime that.

Not sure how A. alnifolia compares to A. canadensis (I have this one). However, I don't think they are terribly sensitive to bad winters and I have not given mine any special treatment...I just planted them this Spring and they seem to be easy to care for BUT contrary to many "deer resistant" lists that claim deer will not eat these...THEY DO!!! Five out of the seven trees I planted lost all their leaves to hungry deer...the good news is that once I put cages around the trees the leaves quickly grew back and they are just fine now. So maybe your problem is w/deer too?

Jodie 1718,

I live in the twin cites, too. My experience with serviceberries has been similar to yours. I finally figured out that it was rabbits that were eating all the leaves, and not permitting them to grow. After I put a little rabbit fencing around the shrubs, they really took off. You might have the same problem.