They are fairly slow growing and probably hard to find so a smaller plant should work for you. Some of the larger ones I've seen are about 10ft. They don't flower a lot so fruit should not be a problem. Good luck on finding one.

dricha, We actually picked up a small one in our fall plant order and have it growing in a container for now. Had a couple spots in mind where a 15 ft tree would work, but not something twice that size. As with you, the few I recall seeing have been in the 10 to 15 ft range, so was surprised to find several reliable sources say they can peak at 30 ft. Guess we'll hope it stays in it's typical range as an understory... worst case we'll rehab or remove it after appreciating many years of slow growth.

I have a couple growing under a huge pecan tree. They've been planted about 5 years now and they're maybe 10ft tall. Mine sucker like crazy though, so if you don't keep underneath them trimmed you'll end up with a thicket.

Alabamatreehugger, Thanks for the warning about suckering. Am considering a spot where this shouldn't be too hard to deal with. Just curious how far from the main trunk are yours suckering? Also, how tall were they when you planted them?

Mine sucker out about 5-6ft from the main stem. I think they were about 12-18" when I planted them. Unfortunately mine don't produce berries because I think both plants are clones of one plant, and there are no other wild ones growing around here. Two separate seed grown plants are needed for fruit production.

Wasn't clear from other sources that they sucker that far out from the base - good to know. Thanks!

Using your average of ~1.5 ft of growth per year, looks like we shouldn't have any concerns about size for at least a decade... if ever.

Not aware of any others growing near by, so not expecting fruit. Though hoping there's one stashed away in a neighborhood back yard or park space.

on any plant...

they can be planted inches apart ...

spacing is more an issue of what you want to accomplish.. and how fast.. and your budget ....

as compared to any given necessity of a given plant...

this would be a general rule.. as i am not familiar with the plant you ask about ...

ken

Ken, Realize there are a lot of options and considerations on spacing. Would like a more natural/wildscape look, but are somewhat constrained by the symmetry of the tree placements we inherited. I was mainly wondering if anyone had experiences with understory placements of RBV that worked well OR poorly in fairly traditional urban landscapes.

For example, we were given the following dogwood (Cornus florida) as a seedling and planted it as an understory to our Shumard and neighbor's live oak thinking it would never amount to much in our alkaline clay this far west of its native range. It's actually turned into a very nice little tree that performs exceptionally well as long as I remember to give it a bit of additional water during the dry August heat. It has held at around 8 ft tall for the past five years, so the 13 ft spacing from the Shumard should be fine for many more years. However, while 13 ft can work, I'd recommend trying for at least 15 ft if someone were to ask today.

I've seen some in the understory in the wild, and they simply conform to whatever space they are given.

I've also seen a few grown freestanding as landscaping espaliers and they seemed to top out under 20'...

Keep in mind that the max sizes given for ANY plant are rarely reached - as those are essentially for genetic giants under optimal conditions. I mean, the max height for a human is probably around ~8', but most are still under 6'.

I'd say to go for it as Rusty Blackhaws are some cool, native edible shrubs!

Here is a link that might be useful: Rusty Blackhaw

I've seen some in the understory in the wild, and they simply conform to whatever space they are given.

First noticed this with aquarium fish, though not all seem to be able to adapt this way. So appreciate the confirmation you've seen this in the wild with RBV. Imagine there's an obscure term (or two) for this ability for some plants and animals to "dwarf" themselves based on their environment.

It blooms nicely here, enough that I noticed it while driving in the spring. The flowers were large, I need to go back and take cuttings.
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fairfield8619: Yes, those are very nice. Do remember seeing viburnum in bloom on TX-34 somewhere between Ennis and Kaufman when we used to make that drive. But never got close (or slow) enough to tell if they were rusty blackhaw, arrowwood, or one of the other native viburnums. Seems the flowers were big like these, so maybe they were RBV.

They bloom heavily here so much that this one stood out with the big flowers. Maybe there might be some suckers I could dig up instead of taking cuttings.