True to description, the fruit started to ripen at the end of August. The orange-red is supposed to change to intense coral with the first frosts - I look forward to seeing this, if not the frosts - and persist until late winter. The scan doesn't show the shiny, almost varnished finish on the drupes.
I find the leaves very attractive on this plant, too. It's also fairly easy to root. Take semi-hardwood cuttings, use rooting hormone (1000 ppm IBA is recommended, but I used Rootone) and, lacking a mist system, keep them in plastic until they root, which takes about a month.
I also grow V. x juddii , but find I have no photos of it. I may even have two of them, purchased from different places and at different times. I've had it or them for about fifteen years. The larger of the two was placed in my holding area and has never left...and never will, now that it's about eight feet (2.4 m) tall and more around.
This clone was developed at the Arnold Arboretum in Massachusetts in 1920 by W. H. Judd as a cross between V. carlesii and V. bitchiuense. It has white flower clusters, pink in bud, as fragrant as V. carlesii, but is superior to it in form and health. It's rated hardy to USDA zone 4 to 8a and supposed to grow well in sun to partial shade. My largest one is in quite a bit of shade, but still flowers well. The form is rather open - more like V. x carlcephalum, but more delicate in appearance.
It's another that is supposed to have great fall color, but not for me. It is also supposed to fruit - small red berries that turn black when ripe. I have not seen these, either, but this is possibly due to the fact that the plants are self-incompatible and need to grow close to a plant of the same species in order to produce fruit...and mine don't. If my second possible x juddii is one, it's not too far from x carlcephalum...but not exactly near, either.
It will grow in most soils except poor and dry and prefers deep, rich loam in sun or semi-shade.
I have not taken cuttings of this one, but soft wood (early summer) or half-ripe wood with a heel (taken in July/August) are supposed to root readily. Even hardwood cuttings should root and you can also layer the current seasons growth in summer.
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