Viburnum Species, Kentucky Viburnum, Softleaf Arrowwood

I just discovered this fine shrub in the Midwest Collection in Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. It is a very similar species to the c...Read Moreommonly planted Smooth or Southern Arrowwood Viburnum, V. dentatum. Looks good! It I very similar to the Smooth Arrowwood (V. dentatum) but its leaves are wider and its bark is exfoliating, being gray to brown with a shiny brown inner bark exposed. Its native range is from southeast Iowa down to northern Mississippi and from eastern Oklahoma up to New York. It is uncommon and is found only in small, localized populations like its common companion of Blue Ash. It is threatened to endangered in many places. In landscapes it gets about 8 to 12 feet high and wide, but can get to 20 feet high in nature. It bears its creamy cymes of flower clusters in early to mid-June and bears elliptical purple-black fruit in fall, loved by birds. It displays a good autumn color from yellow-orange to red or red-purple. Possibility Place in northeast Illinois offers some plants for sale.

Kentucky viburnum is a fine native plant in the viburnum clan which looks and acts a lot like the arrowwood viburnum (V. dentatum). The ...Read Moremain difference is the dark papery exfoliating bark, exhibited on plants from a relatively young age. One might mistake it for a dead stem; don't!

This is not a common plant, but I'm quite interested in propagating and promoting it to diversify the types of plants used in the everyday garden. It is found in the woodland understory on limestone soils, and the photos I've posted illustrate some pretty spare growing environments. Kentucky viburnum seems to be pretty tough.