Found images published on web by forestfarm.com and something like canninggardens.com. My search engine has a section called images that had lots of repeated pictures of blue muffin, rather hard to see. I typed in Viburnum dentatum 'Blue Muffin'

I planted 11 5gal Blue muffins in the fall. They are 30" tall and the buds are swelling. I suspect it wil bloom in the next week or 2 and leaf out by memorial day. It seems later leafing, as both my V. denatum 'Autumn Jazz' and my V.trilobum 'Alfredo' are already partially leafed out...but they look like they will all bloom at the same time!

As far as fall color, the leaves do change but they are not as "dramatic" as my Autumn Jazz. The color is a muted rust, but is clearly different from the glossy lime green summer color. So even though the color isn't spectacular, you do get a "dramatic" effect.

Regards,
M.J.

I am very interested in using this cultivar in my landscape.

Any news from Kevin or VV as far as bloom time and possible pollinators for 'blue muffin'?

'Blue Muffin' is very early--one of the first to flower in the V. dentatum clan. I have V. rafinesquianum and a species V. dentatum that flower at the same time. I'll let you know what cultivars bloom along with 'Blue Muffin' this year.

I'll let you know what cultivars bloom along with 'Blue Muffin' this year.

Thanks. Looking forward to it.

I have them as foundation plants and they are quite nice, beautiful in flower with nice foliage. However, I'm getting concerned about their height. They are supposed to be 3-5' tall but mine are nearly 5' high after being in the ground for only 18 months! They were 2-3' tall when I got them. I hope they slow down a little, I don't want the massive shrubs that the straight species become.

Fatso, have they flowered for you yet this year?

Mine have not yet flowered and don't look that ready. But my Autumn Jazz are very close!

My Autumn Jazz bloomed this morning! Blue muffin is finally budding up...probably another week (or 2).

My Blue Muffin started Blooming early. Way before the other Arrowoods in my yard. But the end of the blooming cycle just caught the beginning of the bloom cycle for my Blue Pearls so I hope some berries set.

Since there seems to be some variance in the bloom time (others blooming very early and mine now blooming), maybe we should be qualifying their bloom times with the type of exposure they are receiving...?

My Autumn Jazz receive very direct morning sun through until about 3 or 4 pm (when the elms shade them out). And they have long since bloomed. And sadly, it appears that the birds are not even letting the fruit swell before plucking them off...let alone waiting for them to color!

My Blue Muffin's receive fairly direct sun from around 2pm until sun down. They are blooming now. With the 4 or 5 of the 13 that receive the most sun being almost done. The 4 or 5 in the middle blooming solidly. And the 4 or 5 that get the least sun(behind a limbed up maple) just starting to bloom.

I'm wondering if Kevin and Fatso have theirs in full sun. given that we 3 are zone 5'ers, that's my best guess for the differnce in bloom times.

Regards,
M.J.

Mine is in Part Shade, part Sun.

No berries on my Blue Muffin this year. It did flower very heavily.

I planted a "Blue Muffin" last spring (2003), and it has grown very well since then to @ 3ft high. Problem is, no flowers or berrys. Anyone with a reason for this, or am I just too impatient?

Mine is growing like gangbusters. Must be over six feet tall already and it was only planted last year.

I am looking into planting this viburnum for the birds in my front yard. It will get full sun, but will be growing in front of some limbed up trees, so I don't want it to get more than 4 ft or so. Can I prune it to keep it short? How well does it produce berries? Is this cultivar still considered a native, or at least close?

Thanks for the info, experts

TBT

I planted two Blue Muffins this season, and they started sending up new growth within a few weeks of being planted. It looks like they will both be over 5' high - which is fine with me. But, I don't see any reason why you can't prune yours to stay at 4', tbte.

Prune them and you probably won't get berries. I didn't get berries on mine this year anyway as it bloomed much earlier than any other Arrowood Viburnum in my yard.

I guess since it's January, I officially look forward to Spring. We will see if I have any other Arrowwood Viburums that bloom at the same time as the Blue Muffin this year. Last year, no berries.

Maybe this Vibrnum thread should be on page one with all the new discussion about Viburnum and Blue Muffin on the other Viburnum thread.

Blue Muffin hasn't even gotten leaf buds here yet.

I am working on my membership into the Viburnum club...Just yesterday I picked up two 'Blue Muffin' Viburnums from Home Depot. I make it a point to not purchase plants from HD, but I was there, the shrubs looked healthy and $18 for 3 gallon shrubs seemed like a good enough deal.

They had these shrubs in an out of the way spot, likely because they were not showing any signs of leafing out. Most shoppers like green and don't get too excited about bulging leaf buds. I took this as a good sign that they had not been babied in a green house.

I take it that these must leaf out latter than other Viburnums as my 'Shasta' is about half leaved out and my 4 'Juddii's have small leaves. I guess I need to print out that pollination thread as I would like to see fruit.

- Brent

Bump.

I am looking for a pollinator for V. Dentatum "Autumn Jazz". Can anyone offer me some suggestions? Thanks.

Bump...

??

I just noticed mine has the dreaded Viburnum leaf beetle on it. It's just a baby and I'm worried I'll lose it. Anyone else seen the beetle? My fact sheet from Cornell says they love the native arrowwood in particular. They haven't bothered my doublefiles or leatherleaf viburnums though. They are apparently resistant.

johnCT:

Northern Burgundy would be a good choice.

Thank you Kevin. :)

I planted my two Blue Muffins last weekend. Yesterday I noticed the first leaf bud opening. It seems very late in the season to be just getting leaves. I guess this is typical of this plant. I see the comment above about leaving out by Memorial Day in Zone 5. Is this typical of Viburnum dentatum in general? I will be interested to see if I get flowers and berries this year. I don't have any pollinators in my yard but I have seen a few Viburnums in the woods near me. I don't know if any neighbors have pollinators. Likely not.

BTW, the Juddiis that I planted last fall are blooming pretty good about now and they smell very nice.

- Brent

My Blue Muffins are just budding too. They look like they have plenty of healthy fat buds, though, so it will be worth the wait.

Additional for JohnCT: Chicago Lustre is from the same series of selections as Autumn Jazz and Northern Burgundy. The other plant I have that blooms as late as these three is Emerald Luster, which is often listed as V. bracteatum but you wouldn't tell it apart from the V. dentatum group.

Plant 'em all, and watch 'em fruit.

Thanks VV. I'm sure I am not alone in appreciating the information that yourself, Kevin and others provide.

I did, in fact, pick up a 'Chicago Lustre' at the same time as it looked similarly far along in the bud stage as the AJ. I figured it would most likely end up blooming at the same or close to the same time.

I can't wait to see the reports in the next couple months on bloom sequences from everyone.

I planted Autumn Jazz and Blue Muffin next to each other hoping they'd pollinate. Am I having a pipe dream? lol My Blue Muffin is getting ready to flower but no sign on the AJ, though both have leaves at approx. the same rate.

Other Viburnums in the yard are Pink Dawn (wow, was it gorgeous and fragrant this early spring!!!!) and 10.....uh oh...I've forgotten the name of them! What on earth! They're blooming right now and can get up to 15', the blooms are light green right now but I'm sure they'll be changing color or I wouldn't have purchased them. Weird, I'm having a total brain meltdown. LOL

I have a Chicago Lustre that I planted last summer and its just starting to leaf out. So I should plant an Autumn Jazz if I want to get berries? I'm a little confused about the pollination! I love the fall colors of the Autumn Jazz so that would be my first choice. Ademink, what can you tell me about Pink Dawn? How large does it get?

Thanks for the info!
Shirley

Hi Shirley! Pink Dawn grows to 8-10'x6-8' and is full sun to partial shade. It had pink *fragrant* blossoms in early spring, it has green summer foliate and really pretty scarlet foliage in fall. In theory :), it's supposed to have blue fruit in fall but I'm not sure that I have a pollinator close enough. It's Viburnum x bodnantense 'Pink Dawn'.

As for pollination: From what I understand, you want a different viburnum, but from the same family, ie, both dentatums or both bodnantense, etc. You want them to both be in bloom at the same time. You also want the planets aligning properly and you need to be standing near the prime meridian. LOL! andrea

Shirley:

Autumn Jazz or Northern Burgundy would be a good choice to cross-pollinate your Chicago Lustre.

Thanks Andrea and Kevin for the information! I was going to go to the nursery yesterday to look at the viburnums but we had temperatures in the 30's with high winds! I didn't think I wanted to be outside too long in that weather! I'll try again next weekend.

One of the Blue Muffins that I planted almost a month ago started putting out leaves a couple weeks ago, but it seems to be a slow process as it is still looking pretty bare. I just noticed a couple small leaves on the other Blue Muffin yesterday. Even my Crepe Myrtle is pretty well leaved out by now.

How are your Blue Muffins doing? Leaves and/or flowers yet? I am not sure if this is just typical, a side effect of coming from the nursery or because of our relatively cool spring. Most things seem to be a week or two behind last year.
- Brent

My arrowood has a beetle infestation too. It stinks!!! Every leaf has a larva or 2 on it, the leaves are skeletonized and the front yard smells like a warehouse of dog poop. I am so disappointed because I went to a reputable nursery 3 years ago looking for an easy going good looking shrub and thats what was recommended. I feel like shovel pruning it now primarily because of the smell. We have cut it back to about a foot and are going to spray it with carbaryl? Hope that will take care of the problem, otherwise the viburnum will have to go :(

Mary Anne

More Viburnum info.

Viburnum dentatum Blue Muffin here is in full blue fruit, the absolute first out of the crowd.

V. d. Blue Muffin ('Christom') seems to have gotten the lion's share of attention in the arrowwood group over the last couple years, reportedly based on a catchy trademark name and claims of staying small.

Unabashedly, it refuses to read its own reviews and continues to grow on to full size (for arrowwood, that would be in the 9-12' range). It does form white flowers and blue fruits (when an appropriate pollinator is near enough), but hardly the stuff of front page news.

V. dentatum blooming at the same time here in KY are:

Cardinal
Crimson Tide
Perle Bleu
Red Regal
Indian Summer
Chicago Lustre
V. rafinesquianum

Kevin from IL has reported that Little Joe and Red Feather also belong in this early group. I'd make sure I got one of the many (better!) clones to pollinate it, and hide the BMs behind them.

Hmmm, interesting initials indeed............

bump

I did a search on Blue Muffing hoping to find
1) something that would pollinate my one lone Blue Muffin (assuming it has survived, its the lone virburnum period)
2) something that doesn't get bigger than 4'
3) something that I can hope to find in a reasonably stocked nursery

as I never got anything last fall.

I see VV has posted some names but frankly I got lost somehwere in the arrowood or dentatum(?) discussion?

Virburnumvalley - please spread some of your wisdom my way please??

Marys1000, I wish I could help you out. Maybe by bumping this up, it will bring in somebody who can tell in zone 5 which viburnum pollinates Blue Muffin. Unfortunately, viburnumvalley isn't on this forum anymore :(

Mary1000, I forgot to add that an arrowwood (common name) is a dentatum. I spoke to VV and he said to pass these along to you. All will work for pollinating your Blue Muffin:

CardinalÂ
Crimson TideÂ
'Perle Bleu'
Red RegalÂ
Indian SummerÂ
Chicago LustreÂ
V. rafinesquianum
Little JoeÂ
Red FeatherÂ

Planted a Blue Muffin last year then found out what I could use for cross pollination with the help of these forums. I settled on Red Feather and Moon Glo and planted these several weeks ago. Today (April 20)I noticed the Blue Muffin starting to flower and It looks like my other choices are close to flowering also. Hoping for lots of berries.

I can see this is an older thread - but hope I might still get some info/advice:

I planted a Blue Muffin about 3 years ago - but in a NE exposure in a foundation area at front of my home - as it was just what I wanted for the spot. Its sun is also reduced somewhat from the shadow/overhang of the house. I haven't had any flowers or berries (though I have an arrowhead and some others in my backyard, though unfortunately none on the list of viburnum pollinators in this thread) - though the plant has been in good health.

In current circumstances, am I at all likely to get flowers/berries, - or do I need to re-site it? I took a tug at it today with my fork - and the roots seem pretty well-developed. It's also been growing 'straight up' - and I'd like to prune it a bit for some shape at this time - whether it stays where it is or I move it - I assume that won't affect the 'lack of' flowers/berries this year (!); ie, I assume w/o flowers I won't get berries.

Thank you for any information or advice those on this forum can offer. 'Much appreciated.

Blue muffin will not pollinate without a male. We purchased the male plant ' Chicago - and it didn't work because the Chicago bloomed later than the Blue Muffin. This plant gets huge and the chances it gets the viburnum beetle are undeniable. It will. I don't use poisons so I tried natural mixes (didn't work) and even resorted to cutting off the stems with evidence of beetles. That means, every single stem on my 12 foot plants. Ugh. I might add that the flowers smell like a dead animal. Ugh. I would advise - strongly - against buying this plant. Go with arrow wood viburnum - easy to prune - beautiful flowers followed by abundant bright red berries and great fall color. No beetles either.

Just a quick correction - It's not male vs female; Viburnum flowers are perfect (have male and female parts.) It is that they aren't self-fertile. A Blue Muffin is genetically identical to every other Blue Muffin, and they won't fertilize itself. It would need to be another cultivar or wild type that blooms at around the same time in order to get berries.

That said, my blue muffin was quite infested with Viburnum beetles, far more than any of my other Viburnum species, so got shovel pruned and burned a number of years ago.