Viburnum Chicago Lustre

* Common name: Arrowwood viburnum Chicago Lustre

* Botanical name: Viburnum dentatum ‘Synnestvedt’

* What it is: Chicago Lustre is an improved version of our Pennsylvania-native arrowwood viburnum that’s distinctive for its heavy fall fruit set and its glossy, green leaves.

   Plants flower white in late May to early June with mildly fragrant, bee-attractive, umbrella-like clusters. The glossy foliage looks good throughout summer, but the best show happens in fall when the leaves turn wine-red and branches sport blue-black berries that offer a late-season feast for birds.

   The best fruiting occurs when two or more arrowwood viburnums of differing varieties are planted, such as pairing Chicago Lustre with a straight-species plant or another good variety – the blue-fruiting Blue Muffin.

* Size: Arrowwood viburnums can become hefty bushes, reaching about 12 feet tall and 10 feet wide in 20 or so years if not pruned. However, with pruning every year or two, the size can be maintained, if desired, at about six feet tall and wide.

* Where to use: Chicago Lustre does well in full sun, but its favored location is in a site with slightly acidic and damp soil that gets morning sun and afternoon shade or dappled light all day. It’ll even grow in deeper shade, although flowering and fruiting are likely to diminish.

   Plants can be lined to up to make an informal hedge or massed under a grove of shade trees. Or a triangle of three makes a nice grouping in any partly shaded setting – even ringing a northeast house corner.

* Care: Keep the soil damp the first year or two to help establish roots, then soak occasionally during hot, dry spells. Although arrowwood viburnums prefer damp soil, they’re also reasonably heat- and drought-tough once established.

   Light pruning can be done after plants finish flowering. Heavier thinning and/or size-control pruning is best done in early spring before new growth begins, although you’ll sacrifice at least some of that year’s flowers and fruits.

   A scattering of balanced, organic, granular, acidifying fertilizer, such as Holly Tone, once in spring is usually helpful but not critical if your soil nutrition is good.

* Great partner: Creeping phlox ‘Blue Moon’ and foamflowers are two native perennials that like similar conditions and overlap bloom time in color-coordinated bluish-lavender and pinkish-white shades. Variegated brunnera, astilbe, and hardy begonias are three other good non-native perennial partners.

   Silver-variegated sedge and most any fern offer good textural contrasts. Impatiens, begonias, and/or coleus are good annuals for adding summer color in partly shaded spots. And good groundcovers under and around arrowwood viburnums include lamium ‘White Nancy,’ sweet woodruff, crested iris, and leadwort.