North Carolina. Viburnum is ringing a bell.

Viburnum cinnamomifolium

The two species are very similar so that is a reasonable assumption. Although a much larger growing shrub, cinnamomifolium is also reputed to perform better in the heat and humidity of the south than davidii.

Thanks all.
Any tips on coaxing a bloom from it.
I’m in North Carolina.
Will morning sun help?

Al

The flowering will probably start up within the next few years. However it seems likely you won't see fruit unless the two are not pieces of the same clone. Plus each is a different sex. And are cross-compatible otherwise.

Wow. I didn't know it took so long for them to bloom. I've had them for about 4 years and only seen berries I believe. I did wonder about the gender and don't know how to recognize that. I'm going to transplant to full morning sun location maybe today.

I don’t find the blooms that exciting anyway. They’re a dirty white. Enjoy the foliage and consider flowers an extra.

On the other hand, if you’ve seen berries then they must have flowered. That reinforces my point. The flowers weren’t noticeable to you.

Don't worry about the gender :-) I can't say for certain with the cinnamomifolium but . davidii is ony functionally dioecious, meaning the individual flowers on adjacent plants may be “pollen acceptors” or “pollen producers”, but they aren’t, strictly speaking, male and female. In fact, you don’t have to have two sexes of Viburnum davidii to get berries - you don't even have to have 2 plants!! I have seen individual plants that bloom and produce berries all on their own! And these plants are never sold by gender either. Or at least, not in my 40 years of experience.

I quite like the flowers. Like other evergreen viburnums, they are produced from very early forming, pink colored buds that open to (IMO) pure white flowers which may or may not be followed by sapphire blue berries. Agree if you have seen berries then there were flowers at some point in time! And while both of these shrubs are considered to be pretty shade tolerant, you will get better flowering if sited in more sun.

The existence of self-fruiting clones does not demonstrate that all examples of the same species will do likewise.

The 2014 edition of The HIllier Manual of Trees & Shrubs (Royal Horticulural Society, London) continues with previously included commentary about V. davidii needing to have multiple individuals present for cross pollination, because some plants are mostly male, others female, and some may be "mules".

There being some that fruit and some that don't is certainly the behavior I see in local plantings.

This rivalry thing you have going on....I'm finding it most entertaining! Keep it up!!! But there's warm, fuzzy feelings underneath it all right, mmmhmm yep. :)

In the early 80s I remember seeing this newly introduced species, V. cinnamomifolium planted in a very long line at the edge of a parking lot; when they were about 3 ft. ( 92 cm.) they showed their nice metalic blue fruits. But, the line was extremely inconsistent, one with none, two with some, one with a very heavy load, etc.

We propagated the ones with good fruit production, but I did not follow their progress long enough to see if they carried the trait.

I moved them today. Whatever sex they are I hope they enjoy the new amount of sun. It’s funny but I kept thinking they looked a little different from each other after reading all the answers.

Coincidentally this months Garden Illustrated has a section on viburnums. Didn’t know there were so many variety.

I’m not positive I’ve seen berries on them but I know I’ve never seen a flower on them unless they only last a Day or so.
Al