Sunday 10 April 2011

Vibrating to Viburnums

What a very user-friendly genus they are, and what variety, with for instance over a hundred and thirty entries in Hilliers. I have mentioned often enough the excellent winter flowering ones such as V. x bodnantense and V. farreri. These have goodish parfume, but the really divine smellers come in early spring: V. x burkwoodii and V. carlesi, both come with various offspring. Following quickly after come perhaps the most striking group:V. opulus and V.plicatum. The former, commonly called the Guelder Rose, includes the Snowball Tree, one of the most popular of all viburnums, though not in fact one of my favourites, I am not quite sure why, but perhaps because when in full flower it is too showy, or too artificial. I much prefer what one might call the horizontals, that is to say rather like the Cornus controversa, they grow in layers, a bit like a wedding cake, so perhaps a bit artificial as well, but then I am keen on cake. There are a number of V.plicatums, of which perhaps the best known is V.p.Mariesii, but they are all good. Perhaps I should mention V.p.Watanabe, since especially in a small space its columnar growth is useful. It also, unlike the others, can repeat flower. Rather similar to the V.opulus are the North American V.dentatums. I have got V.dent. White and Blue - in theory white flowers, blue berries and autumn leaf colour, but I have to admit that on a pretty steep and dry bank they are struggling, but I guess that they deserve better.

In my time I have grown a good number of other varieties. V.macrocephalum is very showy with large bunches of white flowers in early summer, similar in appearance to Hydrangea arborescens. V. nudum has never done anything for me which is odd since it is not supposed to be difficult. Blue/black berries and good autumn colour is its thing. In previous blogs I have mentioned the evergreen, winterflowering V.tinus, a plant that I am slowly coming round to. I am not sure that I will ever come round to another evergreen variety, V. odoratissimum. In the catalogues it sounds good: glossy evergreen leaves and with white flowers appearing late on in the summer, which are supposedly odorous. Stuart Thomas calls it 'magnificent'.But for me it just makes a rather unattractive green bush, and I have never really smelt anything, but I have never taken to the rather similar Pittosporum tobira, which I see he calls 'handsome'. Oh dear, perhaps I have got it wrong.

Before I finish just a bit of praise for the Wayfaring tree, or V.lantana. Most of us will possess at least one specimen in our gardens. I have got about a fifty, and I admit to getting rid of quite a few since their wayfaring can be a bit too much. But they have reasonably showy white flowers, very good berries, which turn from red to black in a most attractive way, and then they produce good autumn colour. What the flowers lack is any perfume, or if there is one it is rather disagreeable. And the truth is that though almost all viburnums have something to recommend them, the real vibrations come with the wonderfully smelly ones. So I award the first prize to the appropriately named V. carlesii Diana since her perfume is indeed divine.