I love this Genus, there is so much that Viburnums can do in the garden. Some are evergreen with bold foliage, some deciduous with great autumn colour, some are grown for scent or berries, branch structure or of course stunning showy flowers. If you collected the whole Genus it is so diverse that it wouldn’t dominate the garden, so in other words you can’t have too many of these indispensable shrubs.
They are so different that I can’t say that I have a favourite but this one is up there somewhere. I well remember seeing for the first time at Chelsea flower show many years ago and immediately falling in lust!
The flower heads consist of pink fertile flowers and white sterile ones that are enough to excite but when these are teamed with the chocolate new foliage it is quite something. Later the leaves go green and then in the autumn turn brilliant colours. I have also had respectable red berries to boot.
It will grow in any reasonable soil in sun or semi-shade and get to about 3 or 4 metres tall. The only thing you need to do is remove some of the oldest canes to reinvigorate the plant every few years.
I have lovely young p
lants at the moment in 6″ pots at $18.50
