Arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum) is a popular ornamental shrub known for its showy spring blooms and fall berries. With proper pollination, these shrubs can produce an abundance of berries that birds love. However, inadequate pollination often leads to poor fruit set and reduced yields.
In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the pollination needs of arrowwood viburnum and provide proven techniques to maximize berry production in your garden.
Before diving into pollination methods, let’s first review some key facts about these remarkable shrubs:
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Arrowwood viburnum is a deciduous shrub with multi-season interest. It produces clusters of white flowers in spring, dark green foliage in summer and blue-black berries in fall.
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There are over 150 viburnum species, but arrowwood is one of the most common. It is native to eastern North America.
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Mature arrowwood shrubs can reach 6-15 feet tall and wide, They grow in USDA Hardiness Zones 2-9,
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Arrowwood thrives in full sun to part shade. It is low-maintenance and tolerates a range of soil conditions.
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Arrowwood flowers are perfect, meaning they contain both male and female reproductive parts. However, cross-pollination boosts fruit production.
Why Proper Pollination Matters
While arrowwood viburnum is self-fertile and capable of setting some fruit without pollinators, research shows that inadequate pollination leads to:
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Lower fruit set – Fewer flowers develop into berries
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Poor fruit quality – Berries may be undersized, underdeveloped or prone to dropping early
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Reduced yields – Cross-pollination typically doubles potential berry production
By focusing on proper pollination, you can dramatically increase the abundance, size, and quality of arrowwood fruit. The rest of this guide shares proven methods.
method 1: Plant Compatible Cultivars for Cross-Pollination
Arrowwood naturally produces more berries when pollen is transferred between different plants. To promote cross-pollination:
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Plant at least 2 arrowwood shrubs in close proximity, ideally within 50 feet of each other.
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Choose cultivars that bloom at the same time for pollen compatibility. Early, mid and late-season bloomers include:
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Early: ‘Blue Muffin’, ‘Compactum’
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Mid: ‘Blue Hawk’, ‘Northern Burgundy’
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Late: ‘Brandywine’, ‘Christom’
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For the highest fruit set, plant 3-5 compatible cultivars. The diversity boosts pollination and fruit production.
With multiple arrowwoods cross-pollinating, you’ll enjoy a bountiful berry harvest!
Method 2: Attract Bees and Other Pollinators
Insects play a vital role in viburnum pollination. You can draw more pollinators to your arrowwood shrubs by:
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Planting nectar-rich flowers like coneflowers, lilies and lavender nearby.
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Providing clean water sources like fountains, bird baths or simple DIY bee baths.
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Avoiding pesticides which harm beneficial pollinating insects.
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Leaving dead wood and brush piles as nesting habitats for native bees.
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Allowing fallen leaves and soil debris to accumulate naturally. 70% of bees nest in the ground.
Target pollinators like native bees, honeybees, butterflies, beetles and hummingbirds for optimal arrowwood pollination. A diverse ecosystem supports better fruiting.
Method 3: Hand Pollination for Guaranteed Results
When natural pollination falls short, hand pollination ensures successful fruiting. Here’s how to manually pollinate arrowwood:
Step 1: Identify Male and Female Flowers
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Male flowers have prominent yellow anthers protruding from petals.
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Female flowers have a slightly larger single pistil in the center without anthers.
Step 2: Collect Pollen
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Wait until anthers are bright yellow and releasing pollen.
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Use a small brush, cotton swab, or fingertip to transfer pollen to a dish.
Step 3: Transfer Pollen to Female Flowers
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Tap collected pollen gently onto the white stigma of female flowers.
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Repeat pollen transfer every 2-3 days during peak bloom.
While time-consuming, hand pollination takes the guesswork out of fruit set. It’s useful for improving yields in a single shrub.
Timing Matters for Successful Arrowwood Pollination
Like all flowering plants, arrowwood viburnum has a short window for pollination success:
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Monitor flower buds in spring and note blooming dates.
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Peak pollination occurs when flowers are fully open and anthers/stigma are most receptive.
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Focus cross-pollination and insect attracting efforts during peak bloom, typically lasting 7-10 days.
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Pollinate each flower multiple times within the receptive window for high fruit set.
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Blooms left unpollinated will wither and drop off without forming berries.
Pay close attention to arrowwood’s blooming schedule each year. Time your pollination techniques perfectly for dramatically higher yields.
Caring for Arrowwood Viburnum Before and After Pollination
Proper arrowwood care pre- and post-pollination also contributes to better fruiting:
Before Pollination
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Prune arrowwood shrubs in late winter to shape and remove dead wood.
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Apply a balanced organic fertilizer in early spring as flower buds begin to swell.
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Water arrowwood regularly if rainfall is lacking, especially a week before blooms open.
After Pollination
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Continue watering if dry conditions persist to prevent fruit abortion.
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Apply organic mulch around the root zone to conserve moisture.
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Monitor for pests like aphids; use horticultural oils or insecticidal soap if needed.
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Avoid pruning immediately after flowering since it can reduce fruiting success.
With extra care taken pre- and post-bloom, your arrowwood will be healthier and better equipped to yield a bumper berry crop.
Common Questions about Arrowwood Viburnum Pollination
If you’re new to arrowwood viburnum, here are answers to some frequently asked pollination questions:
How long do arrowwood viburnum flowers last?
- Individual arrowwood flowers remain open and receptive for 7-10 days. Maximize pollination during each flower’s prime blooming window.
What time of year does arrowwood viburnum bloom?
- Bloom times vary slightly by cultivar, but generally last from early to late May in most regions.
Do I need more than one arrowwood for berries?
- A single shrub can produce some berries through self-pollination, but cross-pollinating multiple plants yields significantly higher fruit set.
What pollinates arrowwood viburnum?
- Bees, butterflies, beetles, flies and hummingbirds all contribute to arrowwood pollination. Attract a diversity of pollinators for optimal fruit set.
How long does it take for arrowwood berries to form after flowering?
- If successfully pollinated, arrowwood flowers develop into mature blue-black berries over a period of 3-4 months, ripening in early fall.
Conclusion
Achieving a bountiful berry harvest from arrowwood viburnum requires careful attention to pollination. Follow this guide to properly cross-pollinate, attract pollinators, hand pollinate when needed, and time techniques precisely during the blooming window. Meet arrowwood’s pollination requirements, and your shrubs will reward you with an abundant crop of wildlife-pleasing fruits year after year.
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Ground Breaking Banter
Happy New Year! Rick shares that if you’re going to a New Year’s Eve party this year, make sure you leave within an hour after the ball drops. A new survey looked at 2,000 adults’ plans’ for the special night and found the appropriate time to leave: within an hour after midnight, according to half of respondents (52%).
Stacey and Rick banter about the year in review. Stacey shares that personally in review, she planted way too many hot pepper plants this year!
In 2020 with Covid many people began journaling. It’s a habit they continue today. Weather often dominates or dictates a big share of a gardener’s year in review (GDD using 50 degrees as a base) In 2022 March and April were very cold. GDD accumulation was only 85 days by May 4 (week leading up to Mother’s day). In 2021 we had accumulated 201 days by that point and in the crazy year of 2012 we had accumulated 351 days by that point! (last year we didn’t get to 351 until May 27) It was a great year for fruit growers and plants in general as they had a slow and gradual awakening from dormancy this past year. It was a good year in the garden for Michigan/Midwest/Crops.
Drought was a big story worldwide!
When you visit this website you’re reminded how many invasive species we are dealing with both plants and insects, National Invasive Species Information Center.
Did you stay home more in 2022? (A benefit to the gardening industry) Check out this survey: More than two-thirds of Americans find themselves spending more time at home now than two years ago. And with all that time on their hands, respondents have been staying busy with upgrading their homes. Over the last year, respondents have prioritized maintaining their lawns and gardens (36%) the most, followed by their kitchens (30%) and living rooms (29%).
We talk about the 2022 Flowering Shrub of the year Double Play Doozie Spirea and Hydrangea of the year Little Quick Fire.
Amazing development of plants that perform better in the landscape continues. Incredible the advances in plant material like Roses or Petunias as examples in the past 20 to 30 years!
Why: Because it’s a night to sparkle! But also because this is a plant that absolutely deserves to be better known, and I’m happy to give it a moment in the spotlight. Glitters and Glows is a Viburnum dentatum var. deamii, or in other words, it’s a Southern variant of our fabulous native arrowwood viburnum. This Southern variant is a superior choice to the standard one, because it has much nicer foliage that’s broader, darker green, and very glossy. That’s where the name “Glitters and Glows” comes from. In addition, the white flower clusters are much more dense and showy, and the blue fruit that forms is bigger and showier too. You’ve really got to see its foliage to believe it – it almost looks fake, but it’s actually a very hardy plant, thriving even in zone 4.
And that brings us to another thing that makes Glitters and Glows viburnum special: you only need to plant this one plant to get fruit. Viburnums need cross-pollination in order to set fruit; it’s not a case of male and female flowers being on separate plants like with holly. The good part of this is that both viburnums you plant will develop fruit, but it means you need to find two totally different varieties of the same species of viburnum for that to happen, which is definitely a case of easier-said-than-done. At least, it was, until Glitters and Glows viburnum. What we did with this particular variety is put both varieties – All That Glitters viburnum and All That Glows viburnum – in the same pot. So you just buy one and fruiting takes care of itself! It’s a great space-saver, as well as a money-saver.
It’s also a good plant for winter interest, as its blue berries generally persist into winter, though it does depend on the tastes of local bird populations if they make it this long. Glitters and Glows viburnum is a larger shrub, reaching 4-6’ tall and wide and is perfect for hedging and for wildlife gardens.
Who: Glitters and Glows viburnum was developed right here in West Michigan and selected for that exceptionally glossy foliage. It’s also a bit smaller than typical arrowwood viburnums, and has a lusher, more dense habit – conventional arrowwood viburnums can develop a very open and rangy habit that doesn’t provide good coverage. Like all Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs, we’re looking for new varieties that improve on the liabilities of their more conventional counterparts.
How to grow: Viburnums are well-known as one of the most shade tolerant flowering shrubs, but at least a little bit of sun won’t hurt. In fact, it help them have more flowers and better fruiting, as well as a better habit. While I wouldn’t recommend Glitters and Glows viburnum for wet soil, it’s not the most drought tolerant either, so this would be a good choice for yards with irrigation or a clay soil that holds on to moisture. It blooms in late spring/early summer, and the berries develop over summer, turning blue by early fall.
This is a plant that you should not prune – it blooms on old wood, and while normally you’d prune a shrub that blooms on old wood after it blooms, doing that on Glitters and Glows viburnum would also remove the fruit, so it’s best to avoid pruning altogether.
Finally, a little note about deer: viburnums are generally considered deer resistant, and that is true in terms of the plant itself. However, in my experience growing arrowwood viburnum, they love to eat the flowers, which not only eliminates bloom but also eliminates fruiting as well. So, if you have deer, be aware of that. It doesn’t mean it’s not a good choice for providing coverage and structure, but you will want to have reasonable expectations about which features you’ll actually get to enjoy if you have deer.
If you’re in the market for a beautiful native shrub that accentuates your home and supports wildlife, add Glitters & Glows viburnum to your spring planting list.
Gardening Mail Bag
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The Audubon Christmas Bird Count is happening December 14-January 5 – click the link to find an event near you to participate in this important citizen science opportunity. And, Stacey was mistaken – she confused the Christmas Bird Count with the Great Backyard Bird Count, which happens in February. Whether you participate in one or both, you’ll be doing birds, and scientists, a huge favor!
Mary is wondering if big leaf hydrangeas can be planted in clay soil.
And the answer is yes! Big leaf hydrangeas actually thrive in soil that is consistently moist, as long as it’s not wet. What’s the difference? Well, a soil consists of 50% soil particles and 50% air spaces. When you water or it rains, the air spaces fill with water. In a well-drained soil, the water leaves those spaces fairly quickly, returning vital oxygen to the roots. That would be a moist, well-drained soil. Soggy conditions are where the water stays in those spaces for a prolonged period, effectively suffocating the roots. So, provided you have good drainage in your clay soil – and you do not add anything to the hole at planting time, which creates a non-draining “bathtub” – you should have good success with big leaf hydrangeas, even in clay soil.
Debbie has a peace lily that isn’t doing well. She says there’s some green stem still left from the main plant and she waters it every week. It’s in a sunny window that gets southern light. The pot doesn’t have a drain hole, but there is a layer of rocks on the bottom of the pot. Can you help?
The answer is in your question here, Debbie, and it all goes back to the lack of drainage in the pot. Peace lilies are very tough and durable plants, but they can get root rot fairly easily. Adding rocks to the bottom of a container may seem like it “adds drainage” but in fact, it just creates a stagnant, swampy layer in the soil. The space between the rocks fills with water, and because there are no roots to absorb it nor any light or wind to dry it, it just stays wet and soggy. Peace lilies can deal with drier conditions much more easily than they can with wet ones, but we think there’s still hope for yours. Get it out of the pot and soil as soon as possible, and if the root ball is very wet, leave it sit exposed for a day or so to dry off. Then, repot into a new pot with plenty of drainage holes and fresh potting soil. Provided it doesn’t experience severe root rot again, it should be fine.
Rick suggests that your non-draining pot could be repurposed as a “cache pot” – a “hiding pot” that you can use to nest a plastic container in. That dresses up the plastic container, and gives you the ability to remove the plant to water it, so you get the good looks of the fancy pot and the ease of care of the plastic pot.
Nancy asks if there’s any way to tell how old a jade plant is, and what to do when it gets leggy.
Even though jade plants can resemble trees, taking on the appearance of a trunk and branches, they are not woody plants and do not form rings. So, unfortunately, there’s really no way of telling a jade plant’s age just by looking at it or even cutting into it. If yours is leggy, that’s an easy fix: you can cut off the tops and let them root in the soil to start new plants, and new growth will sprout from whatever remains of the original plant, too. You can do this as often as needed to keep your jade plant looking great.