The names Shadblow or
Shadbush commemorate that flowering occurs at the time when a fish, the Shad, filled the streams of New England during their yearly upstream migration to spawn.
Also called juneberry, serviceberry, and shadblow, the
shadbush is a member of the rose family.
The hawthorns,
shadbush, firethorn, cotoneaster, spirea, potentilla and numerous other edible and ornamental plants also belong to this extended family -- the rose or Rosaceae group.
Add a plant or two of Abeliophyllum distichum, (White forsythia), Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), Pieris (Andromeda) with clusters of lily-of-the-valley-like flowers above evergreen foliage, include Amelanchier (
Shadbush), mix in a liberal dose of Azaleas and Rhododendrons and you have the makings of a colorful welcome to the spring season.
Shadbush (actually a small tree), dogwood, silverbell and a world of crabapples in various flower colors, shapes, and sizes are all good choices.
Having said that, the following have already bloomed or are currently in flower:
Shadbush, magnolia, flowering crabapple, flowering cherry, flowering quince, dogwood, hawthorn, redbud, May flowering viburnum, azalea, rhododendron, forsythia, white forsythia, spirea, lilac, and literally hundreds of bulbs, natives, and perennials.
Add to the newbies, the standbys of proven reliability like abeliophyllum, the white flowering forsythia, the shrub forms of horse chestnut (bottlebrush buckeye), the native, spring flowering
shadbush (Amelanchier) that, together with the too-little used aronia, provide fruit for the birds and glorious fall foliage.
Both the
shadbush (Amelanchier) and chokeberry (Aronia) are often selected for their heavy berrying as much as for their welcome white flowers of May.
Flowering cherry trees were especially spectacular this year, as were
shadbush, callery pear and silverbell trees.
The American shad are returning, just as the
shadbush blooms.
