Shrub · Adoxaceae
Arrowwood Viburnum
Viburnum dentatum
A forgiving native shrub that hands you spring flowers, blue-black berries, and fiery fall color for very little effort.
Full sun
Every 5–10 days
USDA 2–8
5–10 ft · 1.5–3 m
Overview
If you are new to shrubs, arrowwood viburnum is a wonderful one to begin with. It is a native of eastern North America, tough enough to shrug off winters down to -40°F (-40°C), and so easygoing about soil that it makes a beginner look like an expert. Long ago, Native peoples cut its straight young stems for arrow shafts, and that is how it earned its name.
What makes it so rewarding is how it gives back across the whole season. Flat-topped creamy-white flower clusters open in late spring, blue-black berries ripen into fall, and the leaves bow out in yellow, orange, and red. Birds clear the fruit as it ripens, so you get the happy bonus of wildlife visiting a plant you simply enjoy looking at.
In time it settles into a rounded, multi-stemmed shrub of 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 m), gently suckering at the base to form a thicket if you allow it. The single thing to keep an eye on is a beetle, which is covered below and very manageable. Stay a step ahead of it and arrowwood will ask almost nothing more of you.
Care
The short version: give it full sun to part shade in nearly any well-drained soil, keep it watered while it settles in, and glance over the twigs for viburnum leaf beetle eggs through the winter.
Light
Arrowwood is happiest in full sun to part shade, so you have room to work with. Full sun draws out the heaviest flowering, fruit, and fall color, while a spot with afternoon shade still does well and feels right along a woodland edge.
Water
Aim to keep the soil consistently moist, watering deeply while the shrub establishes and through any dry spell. Once it has settled, it forgives the occasional dry patch, so a comfortable rhythm is to water every 5 to 10 days depending on heat and soil.
Soil
Few shrubs are this relaxed about soil, which is good news for a first garden. Arrowwood is content in clay, loam, sand, or shallow rocky ground as long as it drains, and it accepts a wide pH from 5.5 to 8.0, acidic to alkaline.
Temperature
This is a cold-hardy native that comes through from -40°F to 100°F (-40°C to 38°C), spanning USDA zones 2 through 8. Winter cold is simply no threat, so you can plant it with confidence almost anywhere in the temperate range.
Humidity
You can stop thinking about humidity for this outdoor shrub. Air movement matters more, since open, breezy growth keeps the foliage dry and helps keep pests at bay.
Feeding
It hardly needs feeding in decent ground, so do not overdo it. A balanced slow-release fertilizer or compost in early spring is plenty, and an established shrub in good soil often gets along just fine with nothing.
Pruning
Prune right after flowering in late spring to shape or thin the shrub, and pull suckers if you would rather hold its spread in check. The one job that really counts is winter scouting: cut out and burn any twigs carrying viburnum leaf beetle eggs between October and spring.
Repotting
This is a landscape shrub rather than a container plant, so repotting is rarely on the to-do list. If you are keeping one in a nursery pot for a while, move it on once the roots begin to circle or water runs straight through without soaking in.
Size & spacing
Picture a rounded shrub 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 m) tall and about as wide, spreading 6 to 10 feet (1.8 to 3 m). Give it that much room, and a little more if you would like a second plant close by to help with pollination.
When to plant
Arrowwood is a woody, fully hardy shrub, so there is no fiddly seed-starting indoors to worry about. Set new plants out in spring or fall, enjoy the flowers in late spring, and let the berries color up from late summer into fall as a gift for the birds.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Spring or fall
- Harvest: Creamy-white flat-topped flower clusters in late spring (roughly March-May depending on region), followed by blue-black berries in late summer to fall
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 2–8
Temperature: down to -46°C
Troubleshooting
Arrowwood is a sturdy plant, and nearly everything that troubles it turns up on the leaves. One pest does the real damage and another is mostly a nuisance, so there is no need to feel overwhelmed. Match what you see below, then step in before the leaf beetle in particular gets a head start.
Leaves eaten down to lace, with only the veins remaining
If you find foliage chewed to a net of veins, take a breath, because the cause is almost always the viburnum leaf beetle, and arrowwood is the plant it likes best. The larvae start in spring and the adults carry on, so a rough year can leave a shrub bare, but the plant bounces back. Trim away the twigs holding eggs through winter, brush the larvae off smaller plants, and trust the lady beetles and lacewings to handle the rest.
Fix:
- Prune out and destroy egg-infested twigs between October and spring before eggs hatch
- Hand-remove or knock larvae off small plants
- Encourage natural predators such as lady beetles, lacewings, assassin bugs, and spined soldier bugs
- Treat heavy larval infestations with an appropriate labeled insecticide if needed
Sticky, speckled leaves and a puff of little white flies
When tiny white flies lift off the leaves and the foliage looks speckled and sticky, you are looking at a whitefly colony underneath, with their honeydew growing a dark film of sooty mold. Nothing to fret over: rinse the leaves with a firm jet of water to knock the bugs loose, then dab insecticidal soap on the undersides. It looks far worse than it is and rarely leaves any lasting mark.
Fix:
- Spray foliage with a strong stream of water to dislodge insects
- Apply insecticidal soap or horticultural oil to leaf undersides
- Encourage natural predators
Toxicity
Here is some welcome reassurance for a home with pets or children: arrowwood viburnum is non-toxic through and through. The ASPCA lists it as safe for cats, dogs, and horses, and the berries feed the birds rather than harm them. They are too tart for people to enjoy raw, but they will not poison anyone, so you can plant with an easy mind.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
You can relax around a curious cat, since the ASPCA lists viburnum as non-toxic to them and a nibbled leaf means nothing. The most a leaf-loving cat might face is a brief tummy upset, the same as it would from any plant.
Dogs None
Dogs are in the clear by the ASPCA listing, so a chewed leaf or berry will not harm a curious pup. A big mouthful of greens could bring on a little short-lived stomach upset, and that is the worst of it.
Horses None
Horses can stand and graze beside this shrub with nothing to worry about, since viburnum holds no toxin known to trouble them.
Rabbits None
Wild rabbits browse arrowwood foliage happily, and there is no poisoning risk at all. With a pet rabbit, just bring in any new green gently to keep its digestion comfortable.
Livestock None
Cattle, goats, and sheep can browse the leaves and twigs without any concern. This common native shrub turns up along pasture edges and has no record of poisoning stock.
Birds None
For birds this is better than safe, because the blue-black berries become a treasured fall meal that pulls songbirds in to feast on the ripe fruit.
People None
Nobody will be poisoned here, though the raw berries are tart and astringent and not worth eating by the handful. The kindest thing is to leave the fruit for the birds.
No special handling required; as with any plant, ingesting large amounts of foliage or berries may cause mild stomach upset in pets.
Varieties
Most garden arrowwoods are named selections picked for a neater size, heavier fruit, or richer fall color. These are the ones you are most likely to come across.
Blue Muffin
A friendly compact choice at 5 to 7 feet that rewards you with a heavy crop of blue berries, especially when a second arrowwood stands nearby to cross-pollinate it.
Chicago Lustre
An upright, vigorous form whose glossy dark green leaves come with dependable late-season bloom you can count on.
Autumn Jazz
A vase-shaped shrub kept for its fall display, when the foliage warms into vivid yellow, orange, and red.
Companions
Arrowwood fruits far better with a second, different arrowwood nearby to pollinate it, and pairs well with shade plants at its feet. Keep it away from other beetle-prone viburnums.
Plant near
A different arrowwood viburnum cultivar: Provides cross-pollination that dramatically improves berry set.
Native ferns and shade perennials: Fill the shaded base of the shrub and thrive in the same moist, well-drained soil.
Keep apart
Other highly VLB-susceptible viburnums (e.g. V. opulus): Clustering preferred hosts together can concentrate viburnum leaf beetle pressure.
How to propagate
You can multiply arrowwood three ways, from quick and easy to slow and stubborn. Cuttings and layering give you an exact copy of the parent; seed is a long project for the patient.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Early to mid summer · 6 to 10 weeks to root
This is the most reliable way to make a true copy of a named cultivar, and it is well within your reach. In early to mid summer, snip softwood cuttings from the fresh new growth, dip the cut ends in rooting hormone, and keep them somewhere humid. Give them time and roots will form over the next 6 to 10 weeks.
SeedDemanding
Collect ripe fruit in fall · Several months to over a year (needs warm then cold stratification)
Seed is the slow, patient route and a fine project if you enjoy a wait. Gather ripe fruit in fall, but be ready for complex double dormancy that wants a warm spell and then a cold one, so sprouting can stretch from several months to more than a year and arrives unevenly.
LayeringEasy
Spring to summer · One growing season or more
This is the gentlest method of all, and the shrub nearly does it for you. Any time from spring through summer, pin a low branch against the soil and let it root over a full growing season or longer. Natural suckers also rise around the base, and you can lift and divide those as new plants.
Myths
The berries are poisonous to pets and people.
You can set this worry aside, because the ASPCA lists viburnum as non-toxic to cats, dogs, and horses, so the blue-black fruit poses no danger to the animals around your garden. The berries are valuable bird food, not a hazard, even if they are too tart for anyone to enjoy raw by the handful.
One arrowwood viburnum will always fruit heavily on its own.
A single shrub on its own tends to set only a thin crop, so do not be discouraged if yours does. Cross-pollination from a second, genetically different arrowwood raises fruit set sharply, which is why planting two or more of different cultivars or seedlings gives you a full, generous show of berries.