About the Blackhaw Viburnum
The Blackhaw viburnum is known as Viburnum Prunifolium to be
exact. This plant will be adaptable to many soil types; shaded
or sunny, and can do well in dry soils. This multi-stemmed,
deciduous plant is great for hedges, specimen, screens, shrub
borders, or backgrounds. Flowers are attractive to many
butterflies and fruits are blue to black and very attractive to
birds. This Viburnum has beautiful fall foliage color. This
plant does not have any serious pest problems. This article
gives a brief introduction to this interesting landscape plant.
Like all Viburnums, this plant is very easy to grow. My kids
once ran over a bunch of rows of blackhaw viburnums with a brush
hog. To our supprise they all recovered and were actually
improved as they put out lots new shoots and branches. It was a
fast trim job but it worked well. (We don't advise this as a
cultivational practice.) With its rounded, stiffly branched
habit the Blackhaw Viburnum reminds you of a Hawthorn. It is a
very easy plant to grow. It can be purchased as a seedling, a
rooted cutting, a potted starter plant in qt. pots, to 5 gal.
pots, and B&B field dug plants. In your landscape it can be a
small tree because plants attains a height of 12 to 14 feet. The
Blachhaw Viburnum has dark green, glossy, leathery leaves turn a
dark reddish to purple in the fall. It is an attractive leaf.
This viburnum has creamy white flowers are borne in flat-topped
flower clusters during May. The fruit turns blue-black at
maturity. The fruit of this viburnum, which is sweet and edible,
is nearly half an inch long, bluish black, covered with a bloom,
and ripens in early autumn. It contains a small and somewhat
flattened stone. The mature fruit makes good preserves. It is
ripe when it turns black. The leaves are small enough that they
don't pose a raking and cleaning problem. Birds frequent this
shrub for feed and shelter. Plants are native and tolerate shade
but flower and fruit best in full sun. Habitat and range: The
blackhaw viburnum occurs in dry woods and thickets and on rocky
hillsides from Connecticut to Florida and west to Michigan and
Texas, but is mostly found in the South. I have never seen a
native Blackhaw Viburnum in our county (Bucks County, Pa. ) that
occured naturally. It will still thrive in the soils around our
county, Bucks County, Pa. On our plant durability list, we rate
this a 9 for ease of transplanting and site adaptability. There
are also few serious pests that homeowners need to concern
themselves with. We have many deer on our nursery and we have
not seen much deer damage to this plant by deer feeding on this
plant. You can call us or visit our web site for more
information on other Viburnums. See http://www.zone5trees.com
http://www.seedlingsrus.com and http://www.highlandhillfarm.com