Viburnum x burkwoodii 'Park Farm Hybrid'

Some viburnums are grown for the eye and some for the nose; the Burkwood viburnums are firmly the latter. Viburnum x burkwoodii is a cross between the intensely fragrant Viburnum carlesii and the glossy evergreen Viburnum utile, first raised by the brothers Burkwood and their partner Skipwith at their nursery near Kingston-on-Thames in England in 1924. 'Park Farm Hybrid' is a sister seedling from that same celebrated work, selected for a bolder flower and a deeper bud.

In late March and April, rounded clusters of deep pink buds open to white blooms flushed shell-pink, and the perfume is the point: a rich, clove-sweet fragrance, spicy and carrying, that scents a whole corner of the garden on a mild spring day. The flowers of 'Park Farm Hybrid' run larger and the buds a deeper pink than the parent hybrid, and the bloom is reported to hold as long as two weeks where cool, still weather allows.

The foliage sets this selection apart as much as the flower. Longer, narrower, and glossier than the leaves of ordinary Burkwood viburnums, the dark green leaves hold through mild winters and drop in hard ones, which makes the shrub evergreen across the warm South and semi-evergreen or briefly deciduous farther north. The plant builds a dense, upright frame of eight to ten feet in height and spread over time.

'Park Farm Hybrid' carries a quiet place in horticultural history: the plant has served the breeder Michael Dirr in his viburnum work, crossed with Viburnum macrocephalum var. keteleeri and backcrossed to Viburnum utile. In the garden, set the shrub where the April fragrance can be met at close range, beside a door, a path, or a bench, in a mixed border or a fragrant foundation planting. Give sun to part shade and well-drained soil, and let the perfume do the work spring after spring.