On your Virburnum trilobum- if you don't see flowers, you won't see berries. ;-) Give it time. Good chance other trilobums are around to pollinate. Auburn University says this about Ilex pollination: "...pollination and berry set would usually occur with males and females separated up to 1/8 mile (660 feet), while 1 mile would be problematical, and 3 miles would be very unusual but possible..." tj

runk: "As much as I hate to admit it I have to agree with VV." Say it ain't so! I'm marking that on my calendar... It is also so strange that you've commented when you have - I am planning a trip to Vineyard Haven for the Holly Society of America national conference in October (this doubles as vacation). I expect the Polly Hill Arboretum will be in top shape by then, due to your influence. I'm trying to remember that question - was it a Viburnum melanocarpum or something like that you posted a picture of? It was an M word, I think. I'm always interested in more info on Viburnum, except bringing home the VLB. Don't need that. I've installed about 14 new flavors of deciduous hollies here at the Valley this spring, between Ilex decidua and Ilex verticillata and their clones. That brings me up to about 20 overall, and that includes most of Polly Hill's selections. 'Aquinnah' continues to elude me. rachel: Just to be most accurate, your male plant will be 'Southern Gentleman'. Your female plant which produces the fruit is a different clone entirely (maybe 'Winter Red', probably the finest female selection ever). If you choose to hazard moving your big male plant, you might purchase and plant an additional male ('Southern Gentleman') at the same time as insurance if the original doesn't survive the move.

If it was me (and it often has been), I'd procure both the early blooming male Winterberry forms ('Jim Dandy' is one) and the late form ('Southern Gentleman' is one), so that I'd have males to provide pollen for whatever female forms that I procured in the future. That has become about 25 taxa, in my case. Likely, you will have some overlap in bloom time, but you won't know till they bloom in 2012. You will likely have less pollination and thus less fruit display. Get a late female (like 'Winter Red' or 'Winter Gold') to give 'Southern Gentleman' a worthy consort...

I have the straight species of lex verticillata. I bought them from Possibility Place over in Monee, IL. I love mine. They're in full sun. They require full sun and they are site specific. I don't have a picture of mine at photobucket, but they do grow slowly. They are the same size as they were when I purchased them in April of '06. These are shrubs. Fall color is yellow, nothing special. Website for PP is http://www.possibilityplace.com/ Click on catalog and look around at all the plants they offer. I like crowded, so I'm probably not a good person to answer, but I saw the question is from last week, so I did anyway ⺠Viburnum dentatum is a good choice for the requirements you're describing (as do the other plants you've listed). Prairie Moon has them also. They're small, bare rooted plants, barely 18" tall, but mine has grown to over 5' in 1 year (mostly shade, north side of house). I purchased another dentatum (south side, but under a few trees) from Possibility Place for cross pollination that it might need and I'm happy report that they both are bearing berries this year. Birds love them too. Best thing to do when you've got sun/shade issues, is to ask a lot of questions, do a lot of reading and research. Here is a link that might be useful: Prairie Moon