Shrub · Adoxaceae
Arrowwood Viburnum
Viburnum dentatum
A tough native shrub that gives you spring flowers, blue-black berries, and fiery fall color with almost no fuss.
Full sun
Every 5–10 days
USDA 2–8
5–10 ft · 1.5–3 m
Overview
Arrowwood viburnum is one of the easiest shrubs you can plant. It is a native of eastern North America, hardy enough to shrug off winters down to -40°F (-40°C), and forgiving about soil in a way few shrubs are. Native peoples once cut its straight young stems for arrow shafts, which is where the name comes from.
Through the season it earns its keep three times over. Flat-topped creamy-white flower clusters open in late spring, blue-black berries follow into fall, and the leaves finish the year in yellow, orange, and red. Birds strip the fruit as it ripens, so the shrub pulls wildlife into the garden as much as it decorates it.
It grows into a rounded, multi-stemmed shrub of 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 m), suckering at the base to form a thicket if you let it. The one real catch is a beetle, covered below. Stay on top of that and arrowwood asks for little else.
Care
The short version: plant it in full sun to part shade in almost any well-drained soil, keep it watered while it settles in, and watch the twigs for viburnum leaf beetle eggs over winter.
Light
Arrowwood does best in full sun to part shade. Full sun brings the heaviest flowering, fruit, and fall color, while a spot with afternoon shade still performs well and suits a woodland edge.
Water
Keep the soil consistently moist, watering deeply while the shrub establishes and through any drought. Once settled in, it handles the odd dry spell, so plan to water every 5 to 10 days depending on heat and soil.
Soil
Few shrubs are this easygoing about soil. Arrowwood takes clay, loam, sand, or shallow rocky ground as long as it drains, and tolerates a wide pH from 5.5 to 8.0, acidic to alkaline.
Temperature
This is a cold-hardy native that survives from -40°F to 100°F (-40°C to 38°C), covering USDA zones 2 through 8. Winter cold is no threat, so you can plant it almost anywhere in the temperate range.
Humidity
Outdoor humidity is a non-issue for this shrub. Air movement matters more than any moisture level, since open, breezy growth keeps the foliage dry and discourages pests.
Feeding
It barely needs feeding in decent ground. A balanced slow-release fertilizer or compost in early spring is plenty, and an established shrub in good soil often does fine with nothing at all.
Pruning
Prune right after flowering in late spring to shape or thin the shrub, and pull suckers if you want to hold its spread. The key job is winter scouting: cut out and burn any twigs carrying viburnum leaf beetle eggs between October and spring.
Repotting
This is a landscape shrub, not a container plant, so it rarely needs repotting. If you're holding one in a nursery pot, move it on once the roots start to circle or water runs straight through without soaking in.
Size & spacing
Expect a rounded shrub 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 m) tall and about as wide, spreading 6 to 10 feet (1.8 to 3 m). Give it that much room, or more if you want a second plant close by for pollination.
When to plant
Arrowwood is woody and fully hardy, so there are no seeds to start indoors. Set new plants out in spring or fall, watch for flowers in late spring, and let the berries color up from late summer into fall for the birds.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Spring or fall
- Harvest: Creamy-white flat-topped flower clusters in late spring (roughly March-May depending on region), followed by blue-black berries in late summer to fall
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 2–8
Temperature: down to -46°C
Troubleshooting
Arrowwood is rugged, and most of what goes wrong shows up on the leaves. One pest does the real damage and another is mostly a nuisance. Match what you see below, then act before the leaf beetle in particular gets ahead of you.
Leaves chewed into lace, with only the veins left
This is the viburnum leaf beetle, and arrowwood is its favorite target of all. The larvae feed in spring and the adults pick up where they leave off, so a bad year can strip a shrub bare. Cut out the twigs holding eggs over winter, knock the larvae off small plants, and let lady beetles and lacewings do the rest.
Fix:
- Prune out and destroy egg-infested twigs between October and spring before eggs hatch
- Hand-remove or knock larvae off small plants
- Encourage natural predators such as lady beetles, lacewings, assassin bugs, and spined soldier bugs
- Treat heavy larval infestations with an appropriate labeled insecticide if needed
Sticky, stippled leaves with a cloud of tiny white flies
A whitefly colony on the leaf undersides leaves the foliage speckled and coated in sticky honeydew, which then grows a film of black sooty mold. Hose the leaves with a hard stream of water to knock the insects loose, and follow up with insecticidal soap underneath. It looks worse than it is and rarely does lasting harm.
Fix:
- Spray foliage with a strong stream of water to dislodge insects
- Apply insecticidal soap or horticultural oil to leaf undersides
- Encourage natural predators
Toxicity
Good news for a garden with pets or children: arrowwood viburnum is non-toxic all the way through. The ASPCA lists it as safe for cats, dogs, and horses, and the berries feed birds rather than harm them. They are too tart for people to enjoy raw, but they won't poison anyone.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
The ASPCA lists viburnum as non-toxic to cats, so a nibbled leaf is nothing to worry about. A cat that gorges on foliage might get a passing upset stomach, as it would with any plant.
Dogs None
Safe for dogs by the ASPCA listing. A curious dog can chew the leaves or berries without harm, though a big mouthful of greenery may bring on mild, short-lived stomach upset.
Horses None
Horses can graze near this shrub without trouble, since viburnum carries no toxin known to affect them.
Rabbits None
Rabbits browse arrowwood foliage in the wild, and it poses no poisoning risk. Introduce any new green slowly to keep a pet rabbit's digestion settled.
Livestock None
Cattle, goats, and sheep can browse the leaves and twigs safely. It is a common native shrub on pasture edges with no record of poisoning stock.
Birds None
Better than safe for birds, the blue-black berries are a prized fall food that draws songbirds in to feed on the ripe fruit.
People None
The plant won't poison anyone, but the raw berries are tart and astringent and aren't worth eating in quantity. Leave the fruit for the birds.
No special handling required; as with any plant, ingesting large amounts of foliage or berries may cause mild stomach upset in pets.
Varieties
Most garden arrowwoods are named selections chosen for tidier size, heavier fruit, or stronger fall color. These are the ones you'll meet most often.
Blue Muffin
A compact pick at 5 to 7 feet that sets a heavy crop of blue berries, especially with a second arrowwood nearby to cross-pollinate it.
Chicago Lustre
A vigorous, upright form with glossy dark green leaves that blooms reliably late in the season.
Autumn Jazz
A vase-shaped shrub grown for its fall show, when the leaves turn vivid yellow, orange, and red.
Companions
Arrowwood fruits far better with a second, different arrowwood nearby to pollinate it, and pairs well with shade plants at its feet. Keep it away from other beetle-prone viburnums.
Plant near
A different arrowwood viburnum cultivar: Provides cross-pollination that dramatically improves berry set.
Native ferns and shade perennials: Fill the shaded base of the shrub and thrive in the same moist, well-drained soil.
Keep apart
Other highly VLB-susceptible viburnums (e.g. V. opulus): Clustering preferred hosts together can concentrate viburnum leaf beetle pressure.
How to propagate
You can multiply arrowwood three ways, from quick and easy to slow and stubborn. Cuttings and layering give you an exact copy of the parent; seed is a long project for the patient.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Early to mid summer · 6 to 10 weeks to root
The surest way to copy a named cultivar. In early to mid summer, take softwood cuttings from the fresh new growth, dip the cut ends in rooting hormone, and keep them under high humidity. Roots form over the next 6 to 10 weeks.
SeedDemanding
Collect ripe fruit in fall · Several months to over a year (needs warm then cold stratification)
Seed is the slow road and best left to the patient. Collect ripe fruit in fall, but expect complex double dormancy that needs a warm spell followed by a cold one, so germination drags out anywhere from several months to more than a year and comes up erratically.
LayeringEasy
Spring to summer · One growing season or more
The easiest method of all, and one the shrub half does for you. From spring through summer, pin a low branch down to the soil and let it root over a full growing season or longer. Natural suckers spring up around the base too, and these can be dug and divided.
Myths
The berries are poisonous to pets and people.
The ASPCA lists viburnum as non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses, so the blue-black fruit is no danger to the animals around your garden. The berries are valuable bird food, not a hazard, though they are too tart for anyone to enjoy raw by the handful.
One arrowwood viburnum will always fruit heavily on its own.
A lone shrub often sets a thin crop. Cross-pollination from a second, genetically different arrowwood lifts fruit set sharply, so planting two or more of different cultivars or seedlings is the way to a full show of berries.