Viburnum awabuki 'Chindo'

'Chindo' is a bold, glossy-leaved evergreen viburnum, a vigorous selection grown for both ornamental drama and Southern toughness, hung in season with cascading clusters of brilliant red fruit. Few broadleaf evergreens offer this combination of shine, structure, and seasonal display at so substantial a scale.

The plant carries a real pedigree. 'Chindo' was selected by the late J. C. Raulston, the legendary plantsman and founder of the arboretum at North Carolina State University that now bears his name, from an original found growing in a schoolyard on Chindo, or Jindo, Island off the coast of Korea. Raulston saw the exceptional fruiting habit at once and introduced the plant to American horticulture. The species itself, Viburnum awabuki, is native to the warm-temperate regions of East Asia, including Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, and 'Chindo' stands out among awabuki forms for heavier fruit set, thicker, glossier foliage, and reliable performance across the Southeastern United States.

A note on names: 'Chindo' is sometimes mislabeled Viburnum macrophyllum and is often confused with Viburnum odoratissimum. The two are related, but Viburnum awabuki generally carries thicker, glossier leaves and better cold tolerance than the odoratissimum forms usually grown in the South, which is much of what makes 'Chindo' the better plant for a Southern garden.

Give 'Chindo' room, since this is not a small foundation shrub but a substantial structural element, twelve to fifteen feet tall in time. Use the plant as an evergreen screen or privacy hedge, a strong vertical accent in a mixed border, or a dark, glossy backdrop for a woodland garden, and lean on the humidity and coastal tolerance in Deep South and seaside plantings. In spring the creamy, lightly fragrant flowers give way to the heavy, pendulous red fruit clusters that are the whole point of the plant, dramatic against the lacquered foliage and welcome to birds. A proven Raulston introduction that continues to earn a place in the Southern landscape. Photo courtesy of Jim Robbins.