# Walter's Viburnum (Viburnum obovatum)

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

Also called small-leaf arrowwood, small-leaf viburnum, small viburnum, Viburnum nashii. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/walter-viburnum/

![Walter's viburnum (Viburnum obovatum) cluster of small white flowers among glossy leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/walter-viburnum-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Daderot, CC0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AViburnum_obovatum_-_Marie_Selby_Botanical_Gardens_-_Sarasota%2C_Florida_-_DSC01618.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 10 to 20 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 7 to 10
- Grows wild in: The coast, floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Wet, Dry
- Growth rate: Fast
- Traits: Showy flowers, Hedge or screen, Evergreen, Wildlife value, Drought tolerant, Tolerates wet soil
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

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

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

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.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Viburnum obovatum](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/viburnum-obovatum/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Viburnum obovatum](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=VIOB)
- [Florida Native Plant Society: Viburnum obovatum](https://www.fnps.org/plant/viburnum-obovatum)
- [University of Florida IFAS Extension, Gardening Solutions: Viburnum](https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/trees-and-shrubs/shrubs/walters-viburnum/)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Viburnum obovatum](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.157379/Viburnum_obovatum)
- [Rounsaville and others 2026, Plants 15(13): 1985](https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15131985)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Viburnum obovatum](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/VIOB)
- [Atlas of Florida Plants, USF Institute for Systematic Botany: Viburnum obovatum](https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/plant/species/3202)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Native replacements for burning bush, barberry, privet, Bradford pear and boxwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-replacements-for-burning-bush-and-bradford-pear/index.html.md)
- [Native hedges, screens and windbreaks: which trees to use and how far apart to set them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-hedges-screens-and-windbreaks/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Walter's Viburnum, add ?species=walter-viburnum with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=walter-viburnum&zone=7&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Walter's Viburnum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=walter-viburnum): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=walter-viburnum
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Walter's Viburnum is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=walter-viburnum
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Walter's Viburnum needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=walter-viburnum:1
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Walter's Viburnum flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.