Most viburnums in cultivation have reliably attractive foliage. Leaves vary in size, texture, and color. Foliage may be rounded or lance-shape, and entire or toothed around the edges. Most deciduous viburnums have great fall color, ranging from yellow to red to burgundy, depending on the species or cultivar. But mapleleaf viburnum (V. acerfolium) is hard to beat, turning purple to rosy in the fall. This is also a shrub that could help you out in those dry, shady spots.

If you're looking for an evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub, consider V. x rhytidophylloides and its cultivars. 'Willowwood' has lustrous, deeply veined green foliage and flowers in the fall. In my garden, it usually makes it through winter looking good. 'Allegheny' has dense, rounded, dark-green leaves. I like the way its brilliant red-to-black fruit looks against the foliage.

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