Common Name: Black Haw, Blackhaw Viburnum

Sun to light shade; medium to dry moisture level; adapts to many types of soil including clay; circumneutral pH.

8-15 feet height by 6-15 feet spread; blooms in spring; creamy white flowers; deep blue-black, oval-shaped fruits up to ½ inch long in September.

Growth Rate:  Slow to medium

Maintenance:  No serious disease or insect problems.  Durable.  All viburnums benefit from a thinning or hard pruning in late winter to remove older stems.

Propagation:  Difficult by seed and by softwood cuttings.  Seed can take over 18 months to germinate.

Native Region:  Scattered statewide but most concentrated in the Blue Ridge and Ridge and Valley provinces

Sturdy, shapely deciduous shrub or small tree.  Showy flowers open as leaves are still expanding in spring.  Edible fruits make good jelly.  Burgundy red fall color in leaves.  Name comes from its resemblance to hawthorns.  Needs at least one-half day of sun for best flowers and fruit.  Does well in dry soils.  Suckers vigorously and forms thickety colonies in the wild.  Attracts birds, mammals and bees.  Cultivars available.