"Larry Lovett" wrote in message ...
I have a cranberry "Wentworth" viburnum that was purchased from a local
nursery. It was in a 12 inch pot and I transplanted it immediately.
Within two days, I noticed some leaves wilting and now they are totally
brown and shriveled. Most of the wilting occurred on one branch, although
there are other branches with wilting of just the uppermost leaves. The
shrub looked quite healthy when I bought it.

I planted it in sandy to normal soil amended with spaghum peat moss and I
watered it thoroughly. It gets about 3 hours of late afternoon sun. Two
weeks have gone by and the wilting does not appear to be spreading any
further, so it looks like it will survive.

Anybody know what could have happened? What do I do now? Should I trim off
all the branches just below the wilted leaves or should I go further? The
worst branch is about 3 feet long and runs up right from the base. This
branch does not have many healthy leaves left.


Just because the leaves have fallen off is no reason to cut the branch
off. This may have been transplant shock to the shrub and it will
recover without any drastic pruning. Is it possible that you added too
much peat moss and did not thoroughly mix it in with the existing
soil? Was the peat moss dry when you added it? It can shed water when
dry.

The shape is rather upright right now. Will it round out naturally, or do I
need to prune it? Also, the viburnum is about three feet high, but the
bottom 12 inches are bare. Is there a way to encourage lower leaf growth?
Final question - do viburnums spread by sucker growth?

I'm in Michigan, zone 5 - thanks in advance!

Viburnum trilobum will eventually get more leaves very close to the
ground, but over time. The species does not sucker. But it can reseed!

It does however prefer a moisture retentive soil. If it does not like
your soil it will not develop to its potential, e.g. not many lower
leaves. Any extra watering cannot counteract the effect of the soil
being too free draining for the shrub. A mulch of compost may keep the
top roots from drying out.