Date: Fri 08-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: CAROLK

Illustration: C

Location: A11

Quick Words:

Viburnum-Bleach-Gardener

Full Text:

(column on various Viburnums for Suburban Gardener, 11/8/96)

Suburban Gardener-

The Quintessential American Shrub

BY ANTHONY C. BLEACH

"Viburnums include some of the most popular shrubs for stance, foliage,

flower, berry or autumn color."

-Graham Stuart Thomas

Viburnums are the quintessential American shrub. Many of the hybrids and

selected forms resulted from the devoted work of Donald Egalf at the National

Abortium in Washington. Every year I am compelled to praise them. Every year I

discover another one. I fell for V. wrightii this year. A wonderful display of

fruit makes it stand out.

Deb Shrefflen, a student in the trees and shrubs course at Naugatuck College

wrote about them recently.

There are about 150 viburnums. Most are shrubs. A few are considered to be

small trees, with opposite leaves and clusters of small white flowers followed

by fleshy, berry-like fruit.

The fruit can be red, yellow, blue or black, depending on the species, but red

and yellow are the most colorful. They are vigorous growers and are worth

having in the garden for their spring flowers, good foliage, interesting forms

and colored fruit which attract the birds, and their good autumn color.

X. burkwoodii (Burkwood Viburnum): Six feet high; originated in the nursery of

Burkwood and Skipworth, Kingston-on-Thames, England, in 1924. This is a hybrid

of V. carlesii and V. utile. The flowers are very fragrant, clusters nearly

three inches wide. Fruit is red, changing to black. The leaves half evergreen,

glossy above but hairy beneath with brown veins. Zone 4.

X. Carcephalum (Fragrant Snowball): Nine feet high; an interesting hybrid, V.

carlesii and V. macrocphalum , with rounded, fragrant flowers, heads up to

five inches in diameter. Raised in 1932, also at Burkwood and Skipworth. The

foliage has a sheen. Fruit red, changing to black. One of the latest species

to flower. Zone 5.

V. carlesii (Koreanspice viburnum): Five feet high. This old-fashioned

favorite from Korea is fast being replaced by V. Burkwoodi and V. carcephalum

, as it is often subject to a graft blight disease as it grows older. The

flowers have a pinkish tinge and appear very early in the spring before the

leaves. Up to three inches in diameter and very fragrant. The fruit is

bluish-black, appearing early in the summer. Zone 4.

V. cassinoides (Withe-rod): Six feet high. This shrub is native to the

Northeast, especially in moist woodlands, and has red-black fruit and red

autumn foliage; always a good display in the fall. The fruit goes through an

interesting color change from green to yellowish to red to black, sometimes

with all the colors in the same cluster at once. This plant lends itself well

to massing, either in a wooded area or in full sun. Zone 2.

V. dentatum (Arrowwood Viburnum): Fifteen feet high. The blue fruits of this

shrub, as well as its glossy, reddish autumn color and vigorous growth, are

its best qualities. It is native through eastern US and is not for specimen

use. It is good as a filler, especially in mass plantings. Zone 2.

V. lantana rugosum (Rugose Wayfaring Tree): Also fifteen feet high. This

species, with its black, raisin-like fruits and gray-green leaves, is not as

popular as it once was, even though it is one of the few viburnums good for

dry soil situations. It is native to Europe and western Asia. Flower clusters

nearly four inches wide. Fruit red, but later turning black. Useful as an

informal hedge; blooms late spring. Zone 3.

V. opulus (European Cranberrybush): Twelve feet high. From Europe, this is one

of the most common of all exotic garden shrubs, having bright red fruits and

red foliage in the fall. It has been a popular plant in the United States for

a long time, even though the fruit has an unpleasant odor. The marginal

flowers, in flat clusters, are large and sterile. Leaves are maple-like, three

to five-lobed, 3« inches wide, hairy beneath. There are several varieties now

being grown in the US.

Compactum, a form that flowers and fruits well, is a desirable plant for small

places where the species would be too tall (five to six feet high). Nanum is a

low, dense dwarf that seldom flowers and is only one to three feet high. All

forms are useful in the cities, since they tolerate such an atmosphere very

well. Zone 4.

V. rhytidophylum (Leatherleaf Viburnum): Nine feet high. Not a plant for the

open, windy place. The long (five to seven inches), handsome, crinkled leaves

of this large viburnum make it an excellent specimen, evergreen in the south

and semi-evergreen and fairly hardy as far north as Boston. Flowers

yellowish-white, the clusters nearly eight inches long. The red-to-black

fruits are outstanding. Blooms in late spring. Zone 5.

V. sieboldi (Siebold Viburnum): Thirty feet high. Easily one of the very best

viburnums, this one from Japan has dark, wrinkled but lustrous leaves, about

2« to five inches long, a vigorous, tree-like habit and slightly rounded

clusters of fertile white flowers. The fruit is at first bright red; at

maturity, turns black and fall, but the red fruit stalks remain on the plant

for several weeks after, thereby giving the plant a reddish color. As a large

specimen plant, it might be considered the best of the viburnums for the

northern US. Zone 4.

(Anthony C. Bleach coordinates the horticulture degree program at Naugatuck

Valley Community-Technical College in Waterbury.)