Autumn Brilliance is known for its reliably awesome fall foliage, in deep reds and oranges. It's a cultivar of a cross between two native Serviceberries, Downy and Allegheny, known as Apple Serviceberry. These two Serviceberries often hybridize in the wild.
'Autumn Brilliance' is easily is grown as a shrub or small tree, and it produces beautiful white clusters of five-petaled flowers in the spring. Its trunks rarely exceed the 6-inch-diameter range.
Its edible--and delicious--berries, similar in appearance and taste as blueberries, ripen in the fall and are a favorite of birds. The fruits on 'Autumn Brilliance' are more abundance and slightly larger than the straight species'.
Fun Fact: Serviceberry comes from "Sarvisberry," because of the fruits' resemblance to the fruits of the Sarvis Tree or European Mountain Ash (W. Cullina, Native Trees, Shrubs & Vines)
Serviceberry 'Autumn Brilliance'
- Latin: Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance'
- Current height: 4 to 8 feet
- Mature height: 15 to 20 feet with a spread of 12 to 15 feet
- Light: Full sun to part shade
- Soil: Medium, moist
- Bloom: Pink buds; small white spring flowers, fragrant
- Foliage: Deciduous, blue-green; orange-red fall
- Landscape uses: Accent, border or understory tree; also good for foundation plantings, and can be grown as tall informal hedges or screens
- Pair with: Sweet Shrub, Flowering Dogwood, Arrowwood Viburnum
- Resistance: Deer (mild)