Should I worry about planting sorbus domestica near sorbus americana for any reason. I live in the Kootenays and wouldn't want to endanger the local fauna in any way. We have some beautiful groves of mountain ash here and I wouldn't want to harm them inadvertently. Thank you Kcooper45
It is very unlikely to naturalise sufficiently to become invasive. It is decidedly rare throughout its native range, of conservation concern.
Rather surprisingly Sorbus domestica seems to be naturalising quite well from seed in Haringey, part of north London, UK where it is not thought to be a native tree (it is in south Wales and the Bristol area, also in UK). There are details on my Sorbus weblog here http://rowanswhitebeamsandservicetrees.blogspot.com/
Thank you for the advice. I am a small hobby farmer who likes to play. I saw that the U. of Alberta suggested that the true service tree would grow there so I ordered some seeds for it. I haven't a lot of experience, especially with something exotic. When I noticed the shipova hybrid I got nervous and I thought that I should ask the question of more wise and experienced people. As there are no mountain ash trees in the immediate area (within a quarter mile) or the local hawthorns either I feel that it will be ok,
The true service, Sorbus domestica, seems to flourish in the colder parts of central Europe, as well as in warmer areas, so it might do well in your part of Alberta (though I know nothing of your climate). It needs quite a warm summer to ripen fruit well and as Sorbus species get towards the northern edge of their ranges they tend to fruit less and less frequently - sometimes there is a 12-15 year gap. I have grown S. domestica readily from stratified seed here in South East England from fruit brought from a street market in Rome and my retained tree is now about 30 years old and flowers well with fruit produced in some years. It is a very attractive tree with edible fruit that can be eaten raw after 'bletting' or used to make a cider analogue. The wood is very hard and heavy and the leaf buds are said to be scented, though I have yet to put this to the test. The fact that it might, under some circumstances, naturalise fairly vigorously outside its native range is not, I feel, a reason not to plant it as a garden feature.
The zone where I live is a 6a or a mild 5b I live close to a large lake called Kootenay lake that seems to temper both the heat and cold. If you look it up it is in British Columbia. I really like the input and look forward to more info as it will be an interesting experiment for me. I hope to start a medlar tree this year as well. I already have a small orchard started of 35 dwarf and semi dwarf trees, started about 7 years ago, 20 of them are espallied I think that is the term. I am learning a lot and I enjoy working at it.
Just noticed this bit doesn't seem to have been addressed yet: If you're worried about risks of hybridisation, don't worry; I'm not aware of any records of any hybrids between Sorbus domestica (Sorbus subgenus Cormus) and any rowan species (all in Sorbus subgenus Sorbus). Interesting to contrast that with whitebeams (Sorbus subgenus Aria), which do hybridise naturally with rowans despite being fairly distantly related.
Has anyone tried pruning a true service tree, or seen it done? A neighbor of mine whose parents came from Slovakia always prunes his mountain ash (sorbus americana) like his parents had, into a less tall rounded form. Maybe the true service tree grows in Podbiel Slovakia and was pruned? Thanks kcooper
Sorbus americana is not native in BC, I wonder if you are misidentifying the tree(s) you are calling this. The cultivar 'Dwarfcrown' is present in plantings down here, but often does not do well. Otherwise the common mountain ash by far is S. aucuparia, very frequent in plantings as wall as naturalized. There are several native species but these occur (wild) mostly above altitudes where town and cities are concentrated, and are all quite shrubby in habit. You may, of course, live in an interior mountainous location where one or two are present.
Just curious if your sorbus domestica is bearing fruit? I would love to come across seed if possible.
Hello. Also looking for SORBUS DOMESTICA in beautiful British Columbia or within Canada perhaps some fine human has a lead for scion or seeds. (Located in the Kootenay’s) Please note special interest in obtaining collecting the Rosaceae intergeneric hybrids please share your findings thank you!! Tatarova or Tatarka any leads please!!
There is a collector in the PNW of the US who collects seed from a handful of established trees and who gives them away free out of love for the tree. On Instagram his username is @strom_oskoruse; his email is available there.
jgro thank You!!!! Very much appreciated I’ll ask my wife to look at the insta link. Small world but turns out we live in the same neighborhood (area) as the originator of this post and with a bit of digging yesterday we found out we know of this individual We hope to connect with him in the coming days. Thanks again JGRO and to this forum the moderators and all other necessary gratitudes Happy Gardening Any other leads comments are appreciated Rosaceae intergeneric X Perennial Alliums(just thought I’d add this in for food for thought any other hard core Allium enthusiasts out here!)
That is great to hear. Please let me know what you find out about the originator of this post. I would love to hear where they found their sorbus domestica tree/seeds 10 years ago. I'm sure the Instagram user I mentioned would be very interested.
