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Possumhaw Viburnum
A tough, glossy-leaved native viburnum for wet sites, grown for two spectacular shows - fruit that shifts through pink, blue, and black (often at once) in fall, and brilliant burgundy foliage - plus white spring flowers and strong value for pollinators and birds.
Safety notes This is the VIBURNUM: opposite leaves, flat white flower clusters, and blue-black fruit. 'Possumhaw' is also a common name for Ilex decidua, a deciduous holly with alternate leaves and RED berries that are toxic and cause vomiting and diarrhea - never eat red-berried possumhaw. This shrub is grown as an ornamental and a bird plant, not a food plant: its fruit is seedy, astringent until fully ripe, and belongs to the thrushes and waxwings. It has no notable toxicity and is safe to handle.
Overview
Possumhaw viburnum (Viburnum nudum), also called smooth witherod, is one of the most ornamental native viburnums, prized above all for its extraordinary color-shifting fruit. In late summer and fall the berry clusters ripen through a sequence of colors - green to white to bright pink, then deep blue, then black - often showing several colors in the same cluster at once, a spectacular multicolored display set off by the plant's lustrous, glossy dark-green leaves.
The one thing to knowPossumhaw viburnum (Viburnum nudum), also called smooth witherod, is one of the most ornamental native viburnums, prized above all for its extraordinary color-shifting fruit.
Quick facts
- Sprouts in
- 180 daysRange: 60–540 days
- Soil temperature
- 68 °FRange: 60–75 °F
- Height
- 9 ftRange: 5–12 ft
- Spread
- 7 ftRange: 4–10 ft
- Cold
- Takes hard frostdamaged below -25°F
- Heat
- Struggles above 95°F
- Life cycle
- Perennial, lives about 40 years
- Save seeds
- About 150 days after plantingRange: 120–180 days
- Self-sows
- Yes, expect volunteers
- Soil
- Tolerates wet soil
- Water
- High
- Plant spacing
- 6 ftRange: 4–10 ft
When to plant
Fall sowing is open for 20 more days. Next: spring, Mar 27 to May 29.
- Direct sow Oct 11 – Nov 8 Open now · 20 days leftAbout 2 weeks before to 2 weeks after your first frost (Oct 25 here)Viburnum seed has a complex double dormancy and can take up to two years to germinate, so cuttings or transplants are far more practical than seed.
- Transplant Mar 27 – May 29 Opens in 159 daysAbout 2 weeks before to 7 weeks after your last frost (Apr 10 here)Plant container possumhaw viburnum in spring into moist to wet, acidic, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade; it thrives in damp spots and rain gardens. Plant two or more different plants for the best fruit display.
- Transplant Aug 16 – Sep 27 Opens in 301 daysAbout 10 weeks before to 4 weeks before your first frost (Oct 25 here)Fall planting works well in milder zones; keep the soil moist and mulch the roots until dormancy.
Frost here: last around Apr 10 (Mar 27 to Apr 24 most years), first around Oct 25. Zone averages, your own yard may run a week or two either way.
Life stages
Establish, grow, repeat
Getting established and returning each season are different parts of the story.
Stage 1 of 4 · Getting established
Years 1-2 - rooting in
The first year after planting
Care at this stage
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Keep moist - it loves damp soil
Possumhaw viburnum is a wetland-edge shrub that thrives in moist to wet, acidic soil - keep a new plant well watered while establishing and never let it dry out. It tolerates ordinary garden moisture too, but is happiest damp, making it ideal for low, wet spots and rain gardens.
-
Mulch and plant two for the berry show
Mulch to conserve moisture. The spectacular color-shifting berries set far more heavily with cross-pollination, so plant two or more genetically different plants (for example the cultivars 'Winterthur' and 'Brandywine') near each other for a full fruit display.
Months are typical seasonal windows; climate, variety, and plant age can shift them.
Watch out for
3 to know. None are high-risk for Possumhaw Viburnum. 1 is active in October.
Poor Fruit Set (No Cross-Pollination)Severity Medium DisordernowSeason: Aug–OctAbundant spring flowers but few fruits developing on a lone plant or a group of identical clones.
Abundant spring flowers but few fruits developing on a lone plant or a group of identical clones.
Add a second, different plant nearby; there is no other remedy for a lone plant's light fruit set.
Plant two or more genetically different blackhaws - separate seedlings or different cultivars of Viburnum prunifolium - within pollinating distance. A different viburnum species will not do it; pollen only crosses within the species.
Possumhaw viburnum sets its spectacular color-shifting fruit far more heavily with cross-pollination, so a single plant (or clones of one) flowers well but fruits sparsely - the usual reason for a disappointing berry display.
Viburnum Leaf BeetleSeverity Medium PestSeason: May–JulLacy, skeletonized new leaves in spring, ragged holes in summer, and rows of raised, dark egg-laying scars on the undersides of young twigs in fall and winter.
Lacy, skeletonized new leaves in spring, ragged holes in summer, and rows of raised, dark egg-laying scars on the undersides of young twigs in fall and winter.
Prune and destroy egg-laden twigs in the dormant season; treat larvae early in spring with insecticidal soap or a targeted insecticide if infestations are heavy, before adults emerge.
Scout twigs in fall/winter and prune out those bearing egg-laying scars before spring - the single most effective control; encourage predatory insects and choose more resistant viburnum species where beetle pressure is severe.
An introduced beetle (Pyrrhalta viburni) that is the most serious pest of viburnums: larvae skeletonize new leaves in spring and adults chew ragged holes in summer, and repeated heavy defoliation can weaken or kill a shrub over a few years. Native highbush cranberry is among the more susceptible viburnums.
Drought StressSeverity Medium DisorderSeason: Jun–AugWilting on hot afternoons, browning and crisping along leaf edges and tips, premature leaf drop, collapsed flower stems, and thin, stunted growth - showing up first on young plants and on the driest, most exposed side of the planting.
Possumhaw viburnum is a wetland shrub, so drought is its main weakness - the opposite of most shrubs' concerns. A plant stuck in a dry spot is better moved than watered.
Wilting on hot afternoons, browning and crisping along leaf edges and tips, premature leaf drop, collapsed flower stems, and thin, stunted growth - showing up first on young plants and on the driest, most exposed side of the planting.
Water deeply and consistently, then mulch. Mild wilting reverses within a day or two, but a prolonged drought sets a plant back hard and can kill a young one outright. If a plant scorches every summer, the site is wrong - move it to damper ground rather than trying to water it through.
Match the site to the plant: put a moisture-loving species where the ground actually stays damp - a rain garden, pond edge, ditch, seep or low spot - rather than in an ordinary border you intend to keep watered. Mulch to hold moisture and keep the roots cool, water deeply through every dry spell while the plant is establishing, and avoid hot, windy, exposed positions.
Not a pest but a siting problem, and on a moisture-loving plant it is usually the thing that actually kills it. When the soil dries out, leaf edges brown and crisp, foliage wilts and drops early, flowering and fall color are cut short, and growth thins. Hot sun, wind and exposed positions make it worse by pulling water out faster than the roots can replace it. A plant that wants reliably moist or wet ground has no drought tolerance to fall back on, and young or recently planted ones have the least of all.
Good & bad neighbors
Plant nearby
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Both love wet, sunny sites, so they combine naturally in a rain garden or pond edge - possumhaw viburnum's fruit and fall color with buttonbush's pollinator flowers.
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A wet-site native pairing: cardinal flower's brilliant red spikes among possumhaw viburnum's glossy shrubs, both loving the moist to wet soil of rain gardens and streamsides.
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Both tolerate moist to wet acidic soil, combining inkberry's evergreen structure with possumhaw viburnum's deciduous color-shifting fruit and burgundy fall color in a wet native border.
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Both thrive in moist to wet acidic soil with brilliant fall color, pairing possumhaw viburnum's glossy foliage and color-shifting fruit with sweetspire's fragrant flowers in a rain garden or wet border.
Varieties · 4
You pick one when you add Possumhaw Viburnum to your garden. Its days to maturity set your harvest window.
Possumhaw Viburnum (Viburnum nudum)
The wild species (smooth witherod): a native shrub 5-12 feet tall with glossy dark leaves, flat white spring flowers, spectacular color-shifting fruit (pink to blue to black), and brilliant burgundy fall color.
Variety details for Possumhaw Viburnum (Viburnum nudum)
Rounded shrub with lustrous dark leaves, white flower clusters, multicolored pink-blue-black fruit, and burgundy fall color.
speciesnativeglossy-foliagecolor-shifting-fruitThrives in moist to wet acidic soil; a superb bird and rain-garden plant. Plant two different plants for the best fruit set.
Winterthur
A superb, popular cultivar (named for the Winterthur garden) with a more compact habit, especially glossy foliage, heavy sets of color-shifting fruit, and outstanding deep burgundy-red fall color.
Variety details for Winterthur
Compact glossy-leaved shrub loaded with pink-to-blue fruit and rich burgundy fall foliage.
cultivarcompactheavy-fruitglossyBest fruit display comes with a different pollinator plant like 'Brandywine' nearby; a benchmark selection for gardens.
Brandywine
A cultivar selected for heavy, spectacularly multicolored fruit and glossy foliage, often noted as more self-fertile and frequently sold as the ideal cross-pollination partner for 'Winterthur.
Variety details for Brandywine
Glossy-leaved shrub with abundant clusters of pink, blue, and black fruit and colorful fall foliage.
cultivarself-fertile-tendencyheavy-fruitpollinator-partner' Planting the two together guarantees the fullest color-shifting berry show and brilliant fall color.
Southern Wild Raisin (Viburnum nudum var. nudum) / Withe-rod (V. cassinoides)
Regional and closely related forms - the southern typical variety and the northern withe-rod (V.
Variety details for Southern Wild Raisin (Viburnum nudum var. nudum) / Withe-rod (V. cassinoides)
Glossy-leaved wetland shrub with white flowers, color-shifting blue-black fruit, and good fall color.
speciesnativewet-tolerantwildlife-fruitnudum var. cassinoides, sometimes treated as a species) - extend the range north and south with similar glossy foliage, color-shifting fruit, and wet tolerance. The raisin-like ripe fruit gave the group its 'wild raisin' folk name, but it is seedy and best left for wildlife; all are excellent wildlife and wet-site shrubs.
Grower tips
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