I fought varmints in my massive blackberry garden to the point where i built a cage 8 ft high by 40 feet totally enclosed sauirrels would crawl all over the cage and look in longingly, as the chipmunks ate my strawberries,,,,so i resorted to extreme measures on the ”cute” chipmunks eradciation you dont sound like a moustrap type. but you INSPIRED me to get priactive on my GIANT fig tree in Palm Springs …..will feed the birds elsewhere but we aee bats!

Yes, there are many smaller varieties of viburnums but they are more difficult to find. Usually local nurseries carry the more common and larger types. I know Wentworth grows really large, mine is at least ten feet and I think I planted it in spring 2003. Kevin and Viburnum Valley were the ones on this forum who could have given you a list of the smaller viburnums to get but unfortunately, I don't know which to list. To me, they both are sorely missed on this forum. Lots and lots of knowledge about viburnums that information they freely shared with anyone asking questions here. One thing I can say is that a viburnum commonly listed as being a smaller one, Blue Muffin, is not at all small. Mine grew so large I had to move it this spring from the front of the border where I had it to the very back of the row because it was so tall. Another thing is pollination. To set berries you need the correct partners or no fruit set. I myself had many problems with that when I started planting viburnums and it took some additional shrubs to get things right.

I believe it's the red Aronia I have (which I also think the Latin name has been changed). I bought it because I read that they eat the red one and not the black. Mine has yet to bloom, just bought this spring at a native sale with not much to it, so I can't comment on the fragrance. But I went to another native sale that had the black ones and they smelled heavenly. And of course I went on a day that was for pick-up only. Since it was about a 2 hour drive, no way was I going back the next to buy myself one! I guess I should of worded my initial post differently and added in what berries do you find that your birds don't eat, but you have knowledge that they eat them somewhere else or something to that effect...because as Rita pointed out, there are berries that maybe the birds in my back yard won't eat, but they eat them in somebody else's.

Elaine, Interesting observation. I personally believe that the birds are somehow driven to the berries around the middle to end of August. If I'm not mistaken that is when the dogwood berries ripen. I find that my bluebirds disappear around then only to return in the winter. Someone hypothesized that they need the sugar to bulk up for the winter. Not sure if that is true or not, but maybe that is why you notice the chokeberry eaten at the same time. I have some junkie trees that were growing when I bought the place 20 years ago. Someone told me they were chokecherry, but I've never been sure. From my research, they look like black cherry. I know that when we have taken a couple down and left the stump, shoots start coming out of the stump like crazy. They do grow quickly and the branches break easily in the wind. The birds love them, so we usually leave them up. They have small branch type things in the spring covered with lacy white flowers. Then the berries grow on the little branches. I know I'm not using proper terminology, so forgive me. Can anyone help with an id?