HHF has awarded Shade Tree Farms with its plant of the month award for best plant for its Blackhaw Viburnums. This is an excellent plant for your landscape. The Blackhaw viburnum (Viburnum Prunifolium) could be considered a plant for beginners. Every landscape should have at least one viburnum, why not the Blackhaw? I don't know how you can make a mistake with this plant, but, perhaps it is possible.

This plant will be adaptable to many soil types; shaded or sunny, and can do well in dry soils. This article give a brief introduction to this interesting landscape plant. With its rounded, stiffly branched habit the Blackhaw Viburnum reminds you of a Hawthorn. It is a very easy plant to grow. It can be purchased as a seedling, a rooted cutting, a potted starter plant in qt. pots, to 5 gal.

pots, and B&B field dug plants. In your landscape it can be a small tree because plants attains a height of 12 to 14 feet. The Blachhaw Viburnum has dark green, glossy, leathery leaves turn a dark reddish to purple in the fall.

It is an attractive leaf. This viburnum has creamy white flowers are borne in flat-topped flower clusters during May. The fruit turns blue-black at maturity. The fruit of this viburnum, which is sweet and edible, is nearly half an inch long, bluish black, covered with a bloom, and ripens in early autumn. It contains a small and somewhat flattened stone. The mature fruit makes good preserves.

It is ripe when it turns black. The leaves are small enough that they don't pose a raking and cleaning problem. Birds frequent this shrub for feed and shelter. Plants are native and tolerate shade but flower and fruit best in full sun. Habitat and range: The blackhaw viburnum occurs in dry woods and thickets and on rocky hillsides from Connecticut to Florida and west to Michigan and Texas, but is mostly found in the South.

I have never seen a native Blackhaw Viburnum in our county (Bucks County, Pa. ) that occured naturally. It will still thrive in the soils around Solebury Pa.

On our plant durability list, we rate this a 9 for ease of transplanting and site adaptability. There are also few serious pests that homeowners need to concern themselves with. We have many deer on our nursery and we have not seen much deer damage to this plant by deer feeding on this plant. You can call us or visit our web site for more information on other Viburnums. See http://www.zone5trees.

com http://www.seedlingsrus.com and http://www.highlandhillfarm.com .

By: Mike Hirst