After spending a week talking, taking pictures and eating saskatoon pie, we loaded up my suitcase with saskatoon plants and within a day they were planted in my field south of Grand Island. I am happy to report most are alive and well, and I had my first ever taste of Nebraska-grown saskatoon berries last spring.

What is the Saskatoon berry? Also known as serviceberry, juneberry, mountain juneberry, western shadbush and Rocky Mountain blueberry, the saskatoon berry (Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt.) has been around for a long time, but in the wild. The berry was once a major food source for native North American Indians and early settlers of southern Canada and the northern prairie states.

Native Indians used the plant stems of the medium-sized shrub to make arrows. It is a widely adapted plant native to the Canadian prairies, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, Alaska, British Columbia and the northwestern and north-central United States. It grows as far south as Mexico, and tolerates a wide range of soil and climatic conditions.

In contrast to many fruits that stretch their northernmost limit to Nebraska, the saskatoon finds Nebraska in its southern range of adaptation. In fact, it laughs at our Nebraska winters it tolerates temperatures down to 75 degrees below zero. That is significant since more fruits than not are lost to harsh overwintering conditions.

Last spring, I was particularly impressed with its ability to fruit, even after our very harsh bout with late spring frosts, which pretty much wiped out most of the fruit tree blossoms. It turned out the saskatoons were still very dormant, so their blossoms were not asvulnerable as those of most of our common fruit trees.

If the plant is found in Nebraska, its more likely to be in the landscape than the fruit garden. A few of the more than 25 North American cultivars of Amelanchier have been cultivated for landscape purposes and used as ornamentals or pruned into a hedge. Since the plant is fairly drought-tolerant, it makes an excellent choice for low-maintenance native plantings or xeroscapes.

The bush or small tree reaches a height of 18 feet and sports a showy mass of attractive white flowers in early spring.

Fruits are later borne in clusters of 6 to 12 and mature to a purple, red or almost black color. Fruit size of the wild saskatoon ranges from 1/4 to 3/8 inch in diameter, with some cultivated varieties having fruit sizes up to 5/8 inch, about the size of a blueberry.

The variety Smokey is the most widely planted commercial cultivar in Canada, growing 12 feet tall. I brought back and planted some of those. Northline also caught my eye, described as having very tasty fruit and growing 5 to 7 feet tall, vigorous and bearing at an early age. I also brought back and planted some Thiessen and Honeywood.

Saskatoon berries not only taste good (similar to blueberry), they are good for you. Contained in many fruits and vegetables are the very powerful, cancer-fighting compounds known as antioxidants. Among the fruit groups, blueberries are one of the champions for anti-oxidants among the fruit crops.

A three-year study of the saskatoon berry has shown that the antioxidant activity is comparative to that of the blueberry, blackberry and grape seed extract.

Have I interested you in giving it a try in your garden this year? Most sources of plants can be found in Canadian nurseries. However, customs inspections often delay shipments to the extent that the plants often die before you get them. You might want to consider ordering from U.S. nurseries, and I list a few on my Web site.

One more thing: Saskatoons have a serious pest problem in the form of the woolly elm aphid, which attacks the roots of young plants 1 to 3 years old. Once plants get past this stage, they are usually home free, but you should treat young plants with merit (found in Admire) to safeguard against this pest.

Want to know more? I've made it easy for you: Just visit a Web site I've created that is devoted to the saskatoon berry: http://hort4.unl.edu/fruit/saskatoon.html. I plan to continue my study of this interesting fruit and I hope you'll try some too.

Be sure to protect the plants from rabbits. They view the leaves as gourmet Canadian salad. Let me know how it's working out for you. Better yet, invite me over for a taste of a fresh-baked saskatoon pie.