Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur'

'Winterthur' is the garden aristocrat of the native smooth witherod, an upright, well-built deciduous shrub selected by the late Hal Bruce at Winterthur Gardens in Delaware and awarded the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Gold Medal, the Styer Award, in 1991. The glossy green leaves give the plant clean structure and coverage through the season, then turn deep burgundy and red in fall.

Creamy-white flowers open in flat clusters in late spring and early summer, and the real show comes after, when the berries ripen through a remarkable sequence, green to white to bright pink to deep blue, often with several colors in a single cluster at once. The fruit draws birds and adds real habitat value, and the display is heaviest when a second clone, such as 'Pollinator' or 'Brandywine', grows nearby to cross-pollinate.

Smooth witherod is a plant of wet woods and swamp margins, so 'Winterthur' takes wet to average soil in stride and thrives where drainage is imperfect. Give the shrub full sun to part shade in moist, acid soil, and expect a compact, well-mannered frame of six to eight feet.

Use 'Winterthur' in a mixed border, a native or pollinator planting, a rain garden, or a moist woodland edge, where the spring flowers, the multicolored berries, and the burgundy fall foliage each take a turn. Pair with other moisture-loving natives such as itea, clethra, and winterberry, and plant a compatible pollinizer close by for the fullest berry crop.