My 'Black Lace' elderberry never set fruit even though the wild ones in the back of the house did.

If you would just cut off the flowers of anything once they are done then you won't have fruit.

Tea viburnum is a nice viburnum that does not set fruit for me either(Viburnum setigerum). With viburnums it depends on if you have compatible others around to help cross pollinate.

Does it have to have flowers? What about an architecturally interesting Japanese maple with lovely new foliage in spring, fabulous fall color and intriguing bark in winter? It would coordinate with the boxwoods. Sounds like the site would work in terms of cultural requirements. As there are a seemingly endless variety of Japanese maples, you'd need to see what grows well and is available in your area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Form and Foliage

Actually Japanese maples planted this idea in my head. But my location is on a verge between 4 and 5 zones, so nurseries here do not even give 1 year warranty for JM. And usually we have pretty nasty winters here, so I want something really robust for such a prominent spot. Then I moved to Black Lace as its leaves look so much alike JM.
As far as I know there are no other viburnums around. I was looking for Snowball as it has sterile flowers. But it blooms for a short time and no fall color to speak about.
I would prefer a flowering shrub to have a nice contrast to boxwood around.

Sounds like you want something like one of the dark-foliaged forms of Physocarpus opulifolius...

I looked at Ninebark too. Had to eliminate because of berries.
Does anybody have Rose of Sharon that blooms the entire summer? I read some place that Aphrodite blooms from June to September, but another website said - from midsummer to late summer. Big difference.

but my husband is firmly set against anything with berries on it

===>> why??? it matters ...

you are going to be hard presses to find anything that does not mature and try to reproduce .... one way or another ...

your in iowa... i dont see you sitting out there nov to may ... why winter interest ... define such ... and is the bare structure of a shrub not winter interest ...

in am thinking something variegated like lilac or virunam ... but both flower.. the viburnam with the most gawd awful stink in the world.. but glorius foliage .... and the flower of the lilac is to die for ... but it can also go to seed ...

i think the key with berries.. might be his aversion to birds dive bombing the car ... neither of these would create an issue in that regard ... if that is hubbies concern ... nor are the seeds viable in my z5, as far as i know ...

ROSharon ... is not long flowered.. and one of the worst seeders around ...

any chance at a picture of the site ...

oh this head cold .... is it no seed.. or no berries.. duh ... lol...

finally .. maybe ... lol .. nothing .. especially shrubs .. stops growing at some magical height... but thru proper rejuvenation pruning.. can be maintained to a certain height.. and when done properly ... this is once every few years .. not hedge trimming...

oops.. i was wrong .... you said: ranch home with huge empty space between windows ===>>> how wide is the planting area .... how far away can we plant ...

ken

both are bare in winter
the viburnam..
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and dappled dawn lilac .. and with those flowers and those leaves.. who cares if its bare in winter ... it deserves its rest ... it is not one of the aggressive lilac in my experience ...

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Ken,
You are right about berries. It is my husbands nightmare - birds markings all over the house, cars, sidewalks, etc.He is very accomodating in all other aspects of my gardening. So I have to respect his aversion to berries. But he is okay with seeds in general - we have a lilac in the corner. It has seeds that no wildlife is interested in.
Winter interest is not a major concern - that's for I am keeping boxwood.
After I get rid of the central shrub of boxwood I will have about 4 feet to play with, but then from several feet from the ground it can spread pretty wide. I tried to find a picture of the site with no success and right now we have half foot of snow on everything, so no picture taking for awhile. I have wide flower bed there that can be extended even more, so it will accomodate anything.
Thank you for pictures! Your viburnam is a nice looking shrub, but shape is wrong unless I can prune it to something narow in the bottom and wide at top. That's why I am looking for something that can be pruned into a single or multi-stemmed tree or has arching habit.I am tentaively considering Hydrengea Grandiflora as it can be pruned as a tree, but wonder if it will look as nice as pictures.

not all berries are created equal ...

your husband has a hatred of the juicy diarrhea inducing berries ... like mulberry.. or any of the wild fruits ... choke/wild cherry.. etc ... i am with him on that ... w/o a doubt ...

but that really has nothing to do with the hard seed or hard pulpy berries like cotoneaster .. crabapple ... etc ...

my point is simply .. educate him a bit.. so that you are not ruling out certain plants on broad generalities ...

personally .. i would need a pic to go any further with suggestions ....

and for sure.. understand.. that foundation plantings are planted to HIDE THE FOUNDATION ... not ON THE foundation ... and when you start talking small trees or shrubs shaped into trees.. let me suggest you should start think about a hole at least 10 feet from the house ... not 2 feet from the house like i suspect the boxwood are ...

when the plant matures.. it will fill the space to the eye.. but be properly planted far enough away from the house.. hence the pic request ...

and when you start conceptualizing planting 10 feet away from the house .. you will come to realize.. that the viburnum .. is not necessarily the wrong shape ... for the proper planting site ... [the viburnum is about 6 feet tall and 8 feet wide ]

good luck

ken

Good point, Ken! Actually my shrub is not going into the same hole where a boxwood is currently. I am planning to plant further from the house, so remaining boxwoods provide a backdrop. Plan is to create multi-dimensional landscape. Hate when people plant everything in a row. Actually discussing it here helps me to understand better what I am after.
I am seriously considering V. Snowball for back yard but for the front I am still looking for something not round-shaped. I already have a lilac and several spireas, so I want to break it up with different shape - upright or arching. Easy way out would be to plant a skinny evergreen tree, but I feel it would be too formal for my liking. Plus I really want some color and different foliage. I will try to dig out some pics of the front yard.

Her is the picture. It was taken some time ago, but the main bones are the same.
I would appreciate a fresh look and ideas.
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Actually discussing it here helps me to understand better what I am after.

==>>> i like to say that i try to force peeps to look outside the box they are already sitting in ...

why dont you get to the middle of that lawn.. and plant something like that below.. ignore the dwarf.. i had a minor infestation one year ... just to make you think WAAAYYY!!! OUTSIDE THE BOX ... i agree the viburnum wont work there ...

ken ...
Fagus sylvatica Purpurea Tricolor
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You really have some nice plants growing, Ken!
I already have a maple tree planted up front to the left of the house (25 feet away). The plan is to sneak in more and more plents around it and create "an island". I might include Viburnum there.
Maybe I will research Japanese maples again. Color of your tree really inspires me.

I'm pretty sure you won't have any worries with Ninebark's dry seed follicles. They are not fleshy fruits like many of the plants you are discounting.

you applaud my beech [fagus] .. and then say you will look into JMap's [acer] ... you do understand you wont find a tricolor beech in your search of JM's ...

and it does have some downsides.. and i dont recall where you are.. it might not be appropriate ...

just asking/luring you to look outside the box of bigboxstore offerings ...

ken

Viburnumvalley - I was and still looking at Ninebark Summer Wine. I like its arching shape and pinkish flowers are adorable. And purple foliage should provide enough interest even when not in bloom. Dry seeds should be fine too. It is only juicy stuff that is banned in our household. The only concern is germination of these dry seeds? Is Ninebark notorious for trying germinate everything it produces?

Ken- I am in Iowa, zone 5a. I kind of shifted towards green-leafed shrubs for a while but your beech tree returned me to my original plan - purple foliage. It would stand out against dark green of boxwood and light grey of siding. And I already have spireas on one side that turn bronze purplish color. Now I am hunting for some shorter rounded shrubs for another side. Plan is getting more and more complicated. :)

I have never had a volunteer ninebark - and mine has lots of flowers.

How long does it bloom?

I have Physocarpus 'Diablo', Coppertina ('Mindia') and 'Dart's Gold' - some have been in for almost 10 years and I've never seen a seedling.
Styrax japonica a lovely small tree/large shrub but I am afraid borderline hardy where you are.

Here is a link that might be useful: Form and Foliage

Thank you for the link, formandfoliage! Very interesting. I hope some day there will be similar blog on deciduous shrubs.
Styrax might survive in 5b, but definitely not where I am.

We have lots of deciduous shrubs...that last post just happened to be all conifers. It is amazing how many 'sub zones' there are, isn't it? Out here we have the three USDA zones divided into 24 zones by Sunset mag. Really helps, although if the growers and other vendors aren't savvy to them, they still just put 'Zone 9' and it only works for about 1/2 the people in Zone 9.
One other thought for your shrub: Deutzia x 'Magician'. It's a big Deutzia - 5-7 feet -with stunning pink and white flowers. Some decent fall color. Should be ok in Zone 5. It may be rounder than you want but the branches are graceful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Form and Foliage

Be careful with the expected size of a 'Summer Wine' Ninebark. My 4-5 year old plant is about 8'x 8'. It still is a very nice plant and no seedlings.

tj

I just narrowed my options to Summer Wine and Black Lace elder 5 minutes ago. But 8 feet in 4 years... I might have just accept removing blooms on elderberry before berries formed.Hmmm.

I looked at Deutzia. Thank you for pointing it out to me. Actually I staryed away from "Magician" and found Mont Rose - absolutely beautiful shrub. Looks like even hardy to 5a. But I would feel better if it said zone 4. Every now and then we have below zero with no snow on the ground.

I have a 'Coppertina' Ninebark (Physocarpus) that has not ever seeded either. I agree that the fruit are capsules as opposed to berries - not juicy, but a pretty color.

You might also want to look into Hydrangea paniculata varieties like Limelight, Pink Diamond, Pinky Winky, Strawberry Vanilla, or The Swan. They are hardy to zone 3 and can be trained to a tree form. The blooms last a long time.

While you are looking at elderberry (Sambucus) check out 'Southerland Gold.'

Many of the mock oranges (Philadelphus) have a nice arching form and white flowers with a sweet scent in spring. You could grow a type 3 clematis through it for flowers in mid to late summer.

Nhbabs, Thank you for new ideas! I was looking at Grandiflora in tree form for a long time. I especially liked how white blooms turn pink. But I fell in love with Vanilla Srawberry. My only concern is that it is so new and what kind of problems will be uncovered in several years. I might do some research on disease resistance and pruning.