Named for Thomas Walter, the South Carolina farmer and botanist who first described it in the late 1700s, Walter's Viburnum is native to the coastal plains of the southeast, where it grows in hammocks, thickets, and swamp margins. Despite its coastal origins, it adapts well to the southern Piedmont and handles conditions from full sun to partial shade. The dense, upright-ascending form with small, semi-evergreen leaves turns subtly purple in fall and holds foliage through mild winters.

Tiny white five-petaled flowers in dome-shaped clusters bloom in early spring, followed by oval blue-black fruits that mature in fall. The plant appreciates some afternoon shade and grows in average moist well-drained soils, doing particularly well along pond edges and in woodland sites. Bees work the flowers reliably. Deer tend to leave it alone, which makes it useful in areas where browse pressure is a constant factor. Height ranges from 8 to 25 feet depending on conditions and cultivar.