Common Name: Possumhaw viburnum
Type: Deciduous shrub
Family: Adoxaceae
Zone: 5 to 9
Height: 5.00 to 6.00 feet
Spread: 5.00 to 6.00 feet
Bloom Time: April to May
Bloom Description: White
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Hedge, Rain Garden
Flower: Showy, Fragrant
Leaf: Good Fall
Attracts: Birds, Butterflies
Fruit: Showy, Edible
Other: Winter Interest
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium to wet, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Prefers moist loams, but tolerates a wide range of soils including boggy ones. Prune lightly, only as needed, in fall. Pruning after flowering may be done, but will eliminate some of the late summer fruit display. For best cross-pollination and subsequent fruit display, plant shrubs in groups rather than as single specimens.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Viburnum nudum, commonly called smooth witherod, is a rounded, multi-stemmed, upright-spreading, deciduous shrub that typically grows in the wild to 5-12’ tall and as wide. It is native to low woods, swamps and bogs in the eastern and southeastern U.S. from Connecticut south to Florida and Louisiana. It features aromatic white flowers arranged in flat-topped clusters (cymes 2-5” wide) in May-June. Flowers are followed by clusters of ovoid berries that change color as they ripen, from light pink to deep pink to blue to purplish-black. The berries are highly acidic but edible. Elliptic to oblong-lanceolate glossy dark green leaves (to 4” long). Foliage sometimes turns an attractive maroon to dark red-purple in fall. In late summer to early fall, berries in shades of both deep pink and blue-purple often appear on the same cluster, in striking contrast to the foliage. This species is also sometimes commonly called possumhaw viburnum.
Genus name comes from the Latin name of a species plant.
Specific epithet means nude or naked.
'Bulk', sold under the trade name of BRANDYWINE, is a more compact cultivar that typically grows to 5-6’ tall in cultivation. It is perhaps best noted for the unusually intense colors of its showy berries. Berries ripen in fall to vivid shades of pink and blue, with both colors often found in the same cluster. Introduced by Mark Bulk (hence the cultivar name) of Boskoop, Netherlands. U.S. Plant Patent Applied For (PPAF).
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Specimen or groups. Shrub borders, foundations, hedges or roadside plantings. Good selection for low spots and peripheries of water gardens, streams or ponds.