Viburnum x globosum 'Jermyn's Globe'

A neat, dome-shaped evergreen bred for foliage and form. Viburnum x globosum is a garden hybrid between Viburnum calvum and the well-known Viburnum davidii, and 'Jermyn's Globe' was selected as the best seedling from a batch raised at the celebrated Hillier Nurseries in England around 1964, chosen for the way the plant rounds into a dense, self-shaping globe. The cultivar name honors Hillier's Jermyns arboretum in Hampshire.

The leaves are the making of the plant. Leathery, elliptic, and prominently veined, they emerge and hold a deep, undulating green, glossier and more refined than those of the familiar David viburnum, and they clothe the rounded frame from the ground up. The dense, even dome needs almost no pruning to keep the shape, which is precisely what recommends the shrub for structured, low-maintenance planting.

In late spring, flat-topped clusters of small white flowers open from pink buds and draw bees and other pollinators, and where more than one plant grows to allow cross-pollination, ovoid berries follow in a striking metallic blue-black, an inheritance from the David viburnum parent. The bloom is quiet and the fruit a bonus; the year-round foliage and form are the reason to grow this hybrid.

Slowly building a compact dome of roughly three to five feet, 'Jermyn's Globe' suits a low evergreen border, a structured bed, a foundation, or a large container, and performs reliably in filtered sun to part shade across the mild South, where trials in South Carolina have shown the plant at ease. Give moist, well-drained soil and shelter from the harshest sun and wind, and enjoy a tidy, deer-resistant evergreen that holds a neat dome with almost no help. Additional photo courtesy of the RHS.