Marianne's Response

Viburnum davidii berries

Hi, Marianne.

I enjoy reading your regular column in the Olympian. I am adding a few Viburnum davidii along the sidewalk to our house and hope to enjoy not only the flowers but also those gorgeous bright blue berries. I’ve run into some contradictory information about this plant that I’m hoping you can clarify. One source says that having several plants together is all that’s needed to facilitate pollination. Another source says that both male and female plants are needed for berries to form. The label that came with the four plants I just bought doesn’t mention anything about “gender,” and refers only to the flower clusters and not berries. Could you please let me know how I can better ensure that we don’t miss out on the colorful berries?

Thanks so much for your help.

Milla Oestreich

Posted by Milla Oestreich on February 5, 2015

Marianne's Response

If you have more than one plant of the seed grown Viburnum davidii you will most likely get those beautiful berries and sometimes berries even appear on single plants. This is an acid loving evergreen shrub so it does well in Western Washington and the pair in my garden are always loaded with berries. I have not heard that there are male and female plants of this shrub. Berry best to you, Marianne Binetti

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