V. setigerum, tea viburnum, are all seedlings; that means they are not clones of a single cultivar (to my knowldge, there are no named cultivars of V. setigerum). Thus, they all pollinate one another. I have a planting of five, and I adore them. The berries are spectacular, like groups of little cherries.

I'm told they get naked up to the knees as they age, but mine are too young to do that yet--maybe 6 years old, and I planted them behind some other shrubs, so it won't matter. They are slower growing than many other viburnums.

Thank you for the answer! I'll buy another then for insurance - I heard the berries are beautiful. Viburnum fall color in the south isn't anything to shake a stick at but love the berries.

Leggy is fine, there's a place for that in my garden. I have enough dense.

Named forms are, in fact on the market.

Whether named or not, so many Viburnum are so easy to root from cuttings that any one source will undoubtedly supply clones (rooted cuttings from the same parent plant, rather than seedlings).

laylaa:

I think you are on the right path with adding another dissimilar Viburnum setigerum to your collection. How can that be a bad thing?

I have tea viburnum from multiple parentage here (some seedling grown, some rooted cuttings) and I'm getting all the fruit that the plants can hold. I am not aware that any of the other species you've mentioned make appropriate cross-pollinators.

You should have quite a show with the V. dilatatum selections you now have. Add a 'Catskill', and you'll have a royal flush.

Let us know how they perform in seasons to come.

There's Aurantiacum which is orange fruited. Seriously I don't see a big difference in the fruit. My no name goes through an orange phase too and the orange fruited specimen I know eventually goes red.
In my yard, Prague and V. carlesii Compactum bloom with the Tea. Whether or not they cross, I don't know but I do get berries.

viburnumvalley - I know you! You are the person whose comments I have bookmarked over at Daves. Referred to those comments often when researching my viburnum strategy.

Mine is totally a wildlife garden. I selected the dilatatum species for the berries, which are supposed to be "abundant". They also supposedly have the ability to do well here, plus I hope not to complicate my life with too many cross pollination issues by sticking close to one species. Seems I did miss out on 'Catskill'. If I am missing out on anything else, please advise. The berries are my primary interest.

I do want another Viburnum setigerum though. I have not heard anyone not love theirs... and a rusty blackhaw rufidulum, not as easy to find.

laylaa- I have 6 Viburnum setigerum. They probably were all seedlings but they flower and fruit heavily. They do all have an upright narrow form but it works for me as they are planted in a mixed shrub border that I made for the birds. I love them.

viburnumvalley- Nice to see you back on this forum. I have not been around myself for years. Maybe we can both stick around now and get of those fabulous Viburnum discussions going again :-))

Maybe the 'Aurantiacum' you got was a seedling, and not true-to-name.

newyorkrita - this is for a wildlife hedgerow, so the upright form will work well. It's packed with different shapes already. I am not sure if the setigerum I ordered is seedling or not, but don't really think so and will search for a second source. I have some Viburnum prunifolium seeds I was going to give a shot but it doesn't sound easy. I can root a dead stick but no talent with seeds.

Tried to add Catskill to my order from Fairweather Gardens but they'd already shipped my plants. It was pretty quick of them, I just placed the order, but this week I'll get my first viburnums. It's all good!

Sure. Y'all come back here and go on about viburnums and let me know all the stuff I never knew I needed. I'll have to buy my neighbor's property to fit everything in. :)

I actually bought some of my setigerum from Fairweather Gardens along with other viburnums also from them.

My idea was to make a heavily planted shrub row at the southern edge of my property at the property line to hide the sight of my neighbors driveway. I started planting and just kept making it longer and wider. It runs along the complete lenth of the property line and has serviceberries, shrub dogwoods, all sorts of viburnums, extra dwarf cherry trees, lilas, cherry laurel, nanking cherries and dwarf ground cherries, azaleas, rhodos, dwarf crab apple trees, blueberry shrubs and all sorts of other things. The birds absolutely love it.

Time will tell if I got the right ones. I am reading mixed reviews on the dilatatum, birds like some of them, they seed and are a problem in the north, etc. SUPPOSEDLY they don't seed well here, don't like our soil for germination but I will take them out if I find they seed badly and stick with dentatum, which Fairweather does not carry but one. Most of my garden is native and these are an exception.

Your hedgerow sounds like mine. Very similar plants! And it keeps getting longer and wider...I'm trying to leave some room for the house.