The plain one is the "straight species" and the other two are the cultivars. You can plant a plain one and a cultivar to get what you're wanting (assuming they bloom at the same time, as they should, I know but they can be tricky). I'd suggest you also plant some Viburnum acerifolium (maple leaf viburnum). It cross pollinates my V. dentatum so they both get berries. It also has lovely fall color (much better than V. dentatum). That's a big space you have there and I'd suggest you consider planting about 4 plants within the 21 foot width. As you probably know these are native plants (V. dentatum and V. acerifolium) and replacing the rose with these will be a nice return to the kind of plants found in NC originally. The birds will thank you not just for the berries, but the also for the native insects that they attract; the birds feed the insects to their young. So you are doing TWO good things for the birds!

In the 1980's Linden Viburnum was the "must have" shrub in the capital area because of the pretty berries it produced. The Nat'l Arboretum introduced cultivars. Sadly today, it is an incredible weed pest in the Arboretum's understory second only to Morrow's Honeysuckle. Americorp Volunteers are trying to remove them by hand. The Virginia Native Plant Society and the Student Conservation Assn are sponsoring an invasive removal of Linden Viburnum in Turkey Run Park nr McClean VA. If you are able come out on Saturday, July 9 from 10 to 1. Volunteers will cut the shrubs and a staffer from the Nature Conservance will paint stumps with herbicide. We will meet at the Police Headquarters at McClean and carpool to the site. Prolific fruit production of Linden Viburnum has put this specie's invasiveness on par with shrub honeysuckles and Elaeagnus spp. Well meaning gardeners have planted it with the idea that it is good for wildlife. It is a matter of time before Linden Viburnum invades natural areas in other parts of the country. Sam

Hi, I need some experienced advice based on the spread/growth habit of Viburnum lentago (ÂNannyberry ViburnumÂ). I want to plant two Viburnum lentago shrubs in my yard - I need two to ensure fruiting. I know that (under optimal conditions, when left naturally as a multiple-trunk shrub as IÂll grow them) Viburnum lentago can reach around 18 to 20Âtal; IÂm not sure of the spread on a 20 tall specimen, but I think it would be around 10 to 15Â? My situation is this: I have a single 12 gap in my landscape and a separate 7 gap (which is in heavy shade). I could either both shrubs in the 12 gap or one shrub in the 12 gap and the other shrub in the 8 gap. 1. If I grow the two shrubs in the 12 gap (allowed 6 spread each), would they still grow to a tall height? I want them to grow tall for privacy and I read from one source that when their spread is restricted, they do not grow as large  I hope that not as large means not as wide, net not restricting the height. 2. If I grow only one of the two shrubs in the 12 gap, will the other shrub out-of-view grown in a tight 7 gap in heavy shade produce too few flowers that not much pollination between the two. 3. If I plant the two in the 12 gap only 1 apart, would the two root systems inosculate (fuse, natural graft) so that, in effect, one shrub would be formed that bares flowers from both originals. 4. If I plant the two 4 apart and give them a little more spread (opening the gap to 15 total), maybe since they can spread out freely on opposing ends and only have dense mutual shade in between them. 5. Would you recommend I leave one in the 12 gap and leave the other in the small 7 shaded spot in the corner of the yard, but remove scion wood from the second to be grafted onto the first? I would hope that grafting viburnum spp is not difficult, although I would imagine that this might require some upkeep since they are always putting out more suckers and perhaps crowding out old ones. Thanks, Steve So, to recap, I need two for cross-pollination for fruiting, and I would like at least one of the two to grow around 18 tall.

ahhh, great question. It totally depends on the nursery if things are marked correctly. Often I have found things marked incorrectly at nurseries. Try to find a nursery where the people are really helpful and seem to know a lot about the plants they sell, they are usually more conscious of mislabeling things. But, the Winterthur viburnum is the nudum viburnum. In simple terms, viburnum is the genus, nudum is the species and Winterthur is the cultivar. So, you could buy many different viburnums, many different viburnum nudums with various characteristics. But, you can only buy one kind of Viburnum nudum "Winterthur" because Winterthur gardens saw some great characteristics of the plant on one of their viburnum nudum's and decided to duplicate that to sell to us! see the link for a much more thorough explanation - knowing this is the first step to becoming a gardening snob!!!! http://www.horticulturist.com/mastermag9/backfill9.html