Nannyberry Viburnum Shrub

Nannyberry Viburnum Shrub

Nannyberry Viburnum shrub is a native shrub that not only produces delicious, medicinal fruit, but is also cold hardy and low maintenance. Moreover, it will attract wildlife such as birds and butterflies. This shrub is a beautiful addition to a landscape because of its lustrous colors, from green to marron-red in the fall. 

Nannyberry Viburnum also goes by the names Sweet Viburnum, Blackhaw, Wild Raisin, Sheepberry, Black Haw, Cowberry, Nannyberry, Nanny Plum, Sweetberry and Tea Plant. You can find it growing wild in bogs, prairie habitats, and along wood edges from southern Canada from New Brunswick west to southeastern Saskatchewan to Northeastern and Midwestern United States. Some of the regions it is native to include Dakotas, Wyoming, Colorado, and the Appalachian Mountains as far south as Kentucky and Virginia.

Growing Characteristics

• Uses: You can use these berries for a number of things including tea, jam, jelly, and dried fruit. Moreover other uses include smoothies, desserts, pies, and sorbets.
• Taste: The nannyberry has a very unique flavor which has some hints of prunes, raisins and a holiday spice. Additionally it is very juicy and has a single seed.
• Health Benefits: Nannyberry has a multitude of benefits. Firstly, the juice can help with digestion issues and the tee made from the tree bark relaxes muscular spasms and cramping. Additionally, people use the tea made from the leaves to treat cases of the measles.
• Size/Shape:  At maturity, this large shrub or small tree can reach 15 to 20 feet high. It is also multi-stemmed, arching, thicket-forming, and upright.
• Color: These shrubs produce fruit that start out yellow and red and mature to blue or black. Additionally its leaves are lustrous green and become maroon-red in the fall. Nannyberries also produce beautiful white flowers in the spring.
• Hardiness Zones: 3 – 7
• Pests and Diseases: It can get the viburnum crown borer.
• Bloom Period: May – June
• Pollination: ​​Since Nannyberries are self-infertile they require two or three shrubs planted close by for cross pollination. 
• Cultivation: Nannyberries are very adaptable. They prefer full-partial sunlight 4-6 hours a day and can tolerate alkaline soil, dry sites, occasional flooding, and wet sites. Moreover, for pruning, prune after it flowers since it flowers on old wood. Consequently you can maintain its size and shape.
• Wildlife Value: Not only do the birds love the fruit which is present until December, but this shrub hosts the caterpillar and larva host that will become the spring azure butterfly.

Check out our guides page for information on how to take care of trees.