Goodbye, viburnum. Hello, dogwood!

Above is a photo of a nice, healthy dogwood shrub.

And this is a dying shrub. The cranberry bush viburnum have been spectacular bushes. And the wood boring beetle larva thought so, too. I snapped this branch off at the base. Below you might be able to see the sawdust they left behind.

Below you can see how much dead wood there is. The plants are really struggling.

And no wonder! The bark is chewed all the way through, all the way around. 

After we cut out the dead stuff, the photo below shows what was left. Not much. And we were able to dig it out pretty easily. I was pretty sad because I loved these bushes--flowers in spring, red fall leaves, and red berries in winter. But I decided to think of this as an opportunity. Time for something new...

My choice is Neon Burst dogwood, a hybrid. The chartreuse leaves will be a nice background to my native plants, and the leaves' color is supposed to be red, purple, and orange in the fall. I will protect them this winter so rabbits don't get to them as they establish themselves.