Our RBV seedling finally went in the ground this spring after about 18 months in a pot to get a bit larger. So no long term experience, but seems very happy with late afternoon shade from the fence and neighbor's massive oak to its west. It is a slow growing baby and inputs to this post about RBV spacing to fence indicated about a foot per year seems a reasonable expectation as it gets established over its first decade.

It's been fine with our mildly alkaline clay/water and the hill we're on provides the excellent drainage it apparently prefers.

Bostedo, thank you for relating your experience and for the link. Another site listed it as slow growing also. Maybe that's why you don't see many of them in landscapes, or perhaps they are there, but not recognized. That and it's name "rusty blackhaw". Now if it were named "Fairy Godmother Princess Gift Tree" it might command more attention!

Slow growing as it is it may not work where I wanted to plant it as a screen for the fence. However, I don't mind planting for the future, even if I may not in that future. So I would still like to find a good open place to plant one since it has so many good qualities.

They are slow growing and PRICEY and hard to find at the nurseries. They are there but not always.

True. The Rainbow Gardens on Bandara has none, but the one on Thousand Oaks has several three gal. size for $39.00. I haven't been over there yet to check them out. The price is probably a stopper for a lot of people, but of course the grower has a big investment since they are slow growing.

Bostedo, how about "Ruby mountain garden unicorn tree" ? ... hahaha! With the word 'ruby' we got the red/rusty part in there which, from what I read, refers to the reddish cast on the back of the leaves.

During slow times when I used to work in jewelry we'd stand around thinking up fancy names for pieces and then dare each other to use them.

Roselee, Much better... also "mountain garden" sounds VERY nice while sitting at 94ºf on the Texas plains in late September and "unicorn" reflects its general rarity and the likelihood it doesn't exist at your local nursery. :-)

I'm sorry I didn't get a rusty b vib when it seemed readily avail in Houston area. Now can't find it. I grow Walters, dwarf Walters and Luzon growing in amended clay, mostly sun and conservative watering from sprinkler. I think they have thrived w/ rains of past 2 yrs. I have seen 1 snowball vib growing in neighboring subdiv but don't know if a lucky break.

They're a bit slow-growing, but I think they're worth it! I've got several. Love it when they bloom! There's a type that is more drought-tolerant and I've got one of those out on the property in a cage.