Arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin'
Viburnum dentatum 'Christom' (Blue Muffin) · Viburnaceae
A compact arrowwood with creamy flower heads in early summer and clusters of intensely blue berries in late summer.
- Size
- 6 ft tall, 5 ft wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part shade
- Flowers
- Late May to mid June
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Anchor
A bed built around arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin'
The planner designed this bed around arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' when this page was made: a 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) English border in zone 6, part sun. It chose the other plants from the 708 that suit those conditions, and says below why arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' × 1, white
- 2 Bloody cranesbill × 5, pink
- 3 Robin's plantain 'Lynnhaven Carpet' × 21, lavender
- 4 White mugwort × 4, cream
- 5 Swamp milkweed × 3, pink
- 6 Palm sedge × 3, green leaves
- 7 Lilyturf × 11, purple
- 8 Easter lily × 5, white
- 9 Spring starflower × 12, blue
- 10 Giant snowdrop × 5, white
Why this plant
- The only dense clusters. The others are open bowls, daisies, plumes and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- Part of the bed's structure. Shrubs and grasses keep their shape when the perennials die down. So does palm sedge.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 6 ft it is the tallest plant here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to white mugwort (5 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- One plant, alone. A shrub is seen as an object, and needs clear ground around it.
Why now
- In flower for three weeks. From late May to mid June.
- Part of the bed's peak. With bloody cranesbill and Robin's plantain 'Lynnhaven Carpet' in late May: 3 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as an English border: 9 of the 9 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The flowers stay on the cool side of the palette: pink, lavender, purple, blue, white and cream. Low plants run along 99% of the front edge: Robin's plantain 'Lynnhaven Carpet' and bloody cranesbill.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 4 Good, 1 Satisfactory.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' goes in a border
At 6 ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is very tall (5 to 6½ ft).
Its job: anchor. A shrub that gives the bed permanent structure. Planted singly, as soon as the front edge is laid; everything else is arranged around it.
The berries are among the bluest in the garden, and songbirds strip them quickly. It needs another arrowwood variety nearby to fruit. Tough in any soil.
- Blue berries for birds
- Native hedges
- Foundation planting
What to plant with arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Virginia sweetspire: in flower together for two weeks, from early June; spires rising out of its mound.
- Summersweet: takes over when it finishes, flowering from mid July; spires rising out of its mound.
- Switchgrass 'Shenandoah': its green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after.
Questions about arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin'
Does arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' need sun or shade?
Arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day), part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun) and part shade (2 to 4 hours of sun, mostly in the morning).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and a good soak in dry spells.
What zones does arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late May to mid June. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 3 | Mid June to late June |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Early June to late June |
| Zone 5 | Late May to mid June |
| Zone 6 | Late May to mid June |
| Zone 7 | Mid May to early June |
| Zone 8 | Early May to early June |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' be planted?
4 ft (120 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 5 ft (150 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 6 ft (180 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' plants do I need?
Usually one. At 4 ft (120 cm) across, it is a plant you place, not one you mass. For a hedge or screen, set them 4 ft apart: three plants for a 10 ft run.
In the bed above, the planner used one in one group.
Is arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin'?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
What flowers after arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin'?
Arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' is over by mid June. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Virginia sweetspire: from early June to early July, 5 ft tall (a recorded partner).
- Summersweet: from mid July to mid August, 6½ ft tall (a recorded partner).
- Delphinium: from late June to mid July, 5 ft tall.
What does arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' look like in winter?
Arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' drops its leaves and stands as bare branches. That is when to see its shape, and to prune it if it needs pruning.
Is arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' good for bees and butterflies?
Arrowwood viburnum 'Blue Muffin' is visited by pollinators, butterflies and songbirds.
It is a host plant: the caterpillars of spring azure feed on its leaves. A butterfly can only lay its eggs on its host plants, so these do more for it than any nectar flower.
It is native to the United States (this is a named variety of the native plant).
More Viburnum
- American cranberrybush Viburnum trilobum
- Arrowwood viburnum Viburnum dentatum
- Bodnant viburnum 'Dawn' Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn'
- Burkwood viburnum Viburnum x burkwoodii
- David viburnum Viburnum davidii
- Doublefile viburnum Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum
- Doublefile viburnum 'Mariesii' Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum 'Mariesii'
- Judd viburnum Viburnum x juddii
- Koreanspice viburnum Viburnum carlesii
- Laurustinus Viburnum tinus
- Mapleleaf viburnum Viburnum acerifolium
- Viburnum 'Summer Snowflake' Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum 'Summer Snowflake'
- Witherod viburnum 'Winterthur' Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur'
In these guides
- Plants that grow near black walnut
- Deer-resistant plants for shade
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Pet-safe plants for shade
- Native plants for shade
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants that feed garden birds
- Plants for a white garden
- Host plants for the spring azure
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Shrub
- Size
- 6 ft (180 cm) tall, 5 ft (150 cm) wide
- Plant
- 4 ft (120 cm) apart
- Height class
- Very tall (5 to 6½ ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back
- Flowers
- Late May to mid June; dense clusters; white
- Leaves
- Medium texture, deciduous; dark green
- Shape
- Rounded, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun, part shade
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Viburnaceae
- Attracts
- Pollinators, butterflies, songbirds
- Host plant for
- Spring azure
- Stands up to
- Deer, black walnut
Checked against NC State Extension and VASCAN (plants of Canada). Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.