Walter's Viburnum

Viburnum obovatum

Also called small-leaf arrowwood, small-leaf viburnum, small viburnum, Viburnum nashii.

A fast, dense southern viburnum with small, glossy leaves and clusters of white flowers that open in late winter.

Showy flowersHedge or screenEvergreenWildlife valueDrought tolerantTolerates wet soil

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 10–20 ft
USDA zones: 7–10
Growth rate: Fast
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Dry, Average, Wet
Grows wild in: The coast, floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats
Native range: Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Walter's viburnum is a dense, twiggy shrub of the Southeast's coastal plain. Its leaves are small, 1 to 2 inches long, and it keeps them through mild winters but drops some in cold ones. Its flowers are an early food for bees, and it stands up to hurricane winds. The name honors Thomas Walter, the English-born Carolina planter who described it in his Flora Caroliniana. It grows well in coastal and southern Piedmont North Carolina, north of its native range. Use it for a clipped hedge or an informal screen, or prune it up into a small tree beside a patio.

Size, growth and what to expect

It grows fast, and our growth estimator models it at nearly three feet a year. It makes a dense shrub 10 to 20 feet tall and 6 to 15 feet wide. New shoots from its roots can widen the clump.

Domed clusters of small white flowers, about 2 inches across, open from February to April as the new leaves unfold. The quarter-inch fruit ripens from red to shiny black from late summer into fall, and birds eat it in quantity. Cardinals nest in its branches, and its leaves feed spring azure caterpillars.

It grows wild on the coastal plain from South Carolina to Florida and Alabama. Its home is hammocks, thickets, river forests and swamp margins.

How to grow Walter's Viburnum

Walter's viburnum grows in full sun or part shade, and it welcomes some afternoon shade. It grows in sand or clay. It takes ground that floods at times, and once rooted it rides out long dry spells. It will not take salt spray or salty soil. Plant it 8 feet from a wall, and set plants 6 feet apart for a hedge or screen. Keep it 15 feet from overhead wires, since some plants pass 20 feet.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them from fall until early spring, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Pick the fruit once it turns black and clean off the pulp. The seed must be scarified, its coat scratched through, and may take several years to sprout.

Water weekly through the first summer in dry spells. NC State Extension lists it as deer resistant. It can be sheared as a hedge, left to form a thicket or pruned up into a small tree. Pull the root suckers each year unless you want a thicket.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Aphids, scale insects and whiteflies feed on viburnums, but their attacks are seldom serious. Leaf spot and mildew can mark the leaves, and the mildews are seldom fatal.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (8)

Plan the planting