Viburnum Species, Arrowwood, Southern Arrowwood, Roughish Arrowwood

It is a wonderful, reliable, clean plant that makes a great deciduous screen. Most get a good fall color. The drupes (berries) are loved ...Read Moreby birds and are usually eaten in September-October; otherwise they survive through December. Until the 1980s this species was sold as the straight species. Since the 1980's a number of cultivars chosen for good fall color, more branching to the ground, or even more compactness have been selected. I've see the straight species growing wild in the forest edges of southeast PA in a good number of locations, looking good as a wild plant.

This plant grows and flowers well. It also has a nice fall color. Overall, I don't find it an attractive enough plant for the space it u...Read Moreses in my garden, so I will replace it with another Viburnum, perhaps one with an attractive scent.

I often planted it in my yard because it shrugs off shade. There are not many other shrub species available on the market that grows in ...Read Moreshade. The problems associate with this species is that it tend to grow very long thin sticks that rarely branches so is not a effective screen bush and sometimes the branches collaspe close to the ground so need frequent trimming. Another problem, at least in my Zone 4 garden is its late fall color - often later than even the Norway Maple which changes colors about late October and I have seen it just turn a dry green when snow flies and then drop off. Downy Arrowwood changes its colors only in mid November and then held on it through parts of December. I don't think the name of Southern Arrowwood is accurate as there are no northern arrowwood species. I know most of the comments is negative but it does have fall colors - strongly reddish at the tip and a bright yellow the rest of the plant. Also grows fast while some other shade shrubs or small tree grows very slowly like Ironwood or is rare in the trade like Musclewood.

Arrowwood viburnum is certainly the easiest viburnum to grow, and very durable. There are copious named selections to choose from; tour ...Read Morethe PlantFiles entries here and judge them for yourself.

This is quite a variable species: there are dwarfer forms, taller forms, early vs. late bloomers, an incredible array of fall colors, and the leaf characters make you think you have different plants sometimes.

None of this should dissuade the gardener from giving arrowwood a spot in their landscape. It is a prolific bloomer, and with a little cross-pollination, this plant will set heavily with lustrous blue fruit which (around here) mockingbirds and cardinals simply cannot resist.

Arrowwood is also very easy to propagate -- live stakes in winter and simple layering during the growing season gives new plants pretty quickly with no effort.