Bailey Compact American Cranberrybush

Bailey Compact is the American cranberrybush scaled down to fit. Viburnum trilobum 'Bailey Compact' holds at 5 to 6 feet tall and wide, about half the size of the species, which puts it within reach of a foundation planting or a mixed border where a full-size viburnum would crowd everything around it. Full sun to part shade, hardy from Zone 2 through Zone 7, and it fills out over three or four seasons.

Flat white lacecap flowers open in late spring, the outer ring of showy sterile florets surrounding smaller fertile ones in the center. Bright red fruit follows in late summer and holds on the bare branches deep into winter, which is the main reason to grow it.

Fall color is the other reason. The maple-shaped leaves turn a strong red to burgundy, more reliably on this selection than on the species, and the display comes late in the season.

The fruit is edible but very tart, and it is mostly used cooked into jelly or sauce rather than eaten off the shrub. Birds usually get to it first anyway. Cedar waxwings and robins take the fruit through late winter after repeated freezing softens the berries. It handles wet soil and cold better than most viburnums. Deer will browse it.