One genus, a garden's worth of virtues. Viburnums give flower, fragrance, fruit, fall color, and structure across the seasons, which is why gardeners who know them plant them by the dozen.
'Winterthur' is the garden aristocrat of the native smooth witherod, an upright, well-built deciduous shrub selected by the late Hal Bruce at Winterthur Gardens in Delaware and awarded the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Gold Medal, the Styer Award, in 1991. The glossy green leaves give the plant clean structure and coverage through the season, then turn deep burgundy and red in fall.
Walter's viburnum is one of the finest small evergreens of the Southern coastal plain, a fine-textured native named for Thomas Walter, the eighteenth-century Carolina planter and botanist who first described the species in his Flora Caroliniana. The botanical name obovatum points to the little obovate leaves, broadest toward the tip, and 'Compactum' gathers all of that into a low, rounded, mounding form densely set with small leaves and smothered in white flowers each spring.
Miss Schiller's Delight' is an excellent dwarf clone of Viburnum obovatum which is a fine small leaf native evergreen shrub. This clone was selected by our friend Steve Riefler in Florida. Steve named it for a friend whose name, like the plant, resembles 'Shillings's'( the widely grown dwarf Yaupon Holly). It is an especially floriferous clone. Woodlanders was one of the first nurseries to offer the now popular Riefler dwarf clones of Viburnum obovatum.
An attractive somewhat pendulous form of our native Walter Viburnum. Viburnum obovatum and its selections are becoming increasingly popular landscape plants, especially in Florida. This selection by Nancy Bissett at The Natives Nursery in central Florida was introduced by Woodlanders. This native evergreen Viburnum species with small leaves, clusters of white flowers, and black fruits is native to swamps and lowgrounds but makes a good ornamental shrub in landscape situations. It was virtually unknown as a horticultural subject when first offered by Woodlanders in the 1980's.
Few shrubs wear a name as plainly as this one. Odoratissimum is Latin for the most fragrant, the sweetest-scented, and sweet viburnum earns the superlative in late spring, when conical panicles of tiny white flowers open across the canopy and carry a soft, honeyed perfume on warm air. A member of the moschatel family, Adoxaceae, and a cousin of the elders and the arrowwoods, Viburnum odoratissimum ranges as a wild plant from the Himalayan foothills of India through Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam to China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, a broad Asian sweep that hints at the plant's easy adaptability in the warm garden.
Dr. Michael Dirr (Manual of Woody Landscape Plants) highly recommends this "tremendous" introduction from Don Egolf's breeding program at U.S. National Arboretum. 'Shasta' is a large deciduous shrub with very showy white clusters of sterile and fertile florets atop spreading branches. A big plant, it needs space and a fertile well drained soil in sun or semi shade. Doublefile Viburnum is native to eastern Asia.
A viburnum grown for the leaves rather than the flowers, and one of the rarest evergreens in the American nursery trade. Viburnum propinquum was described by the botanist William Hemsley in 1888 from the temperate forests of China, and the plant ranges through central and southern China, Taiwan, and north to Luzon in the Philippines. The species name comes from the Latin propinquus, meaning near or akin, a botanist's nod to the plant's close kinship with several related Asian viburnums. Woodlanders is among the very few nurseries anywhere to offer the Chinese evergreen viburnum.
Blackhaw Viburnum is an attractive small tree with oval leathery deciduous leaves and showy flat topped clusters of white flowers followed blue fruits which are attractive to birds. It has very interesting almost black checkered bark on the trunks. Plant in sun or semi shade. Soil should be well drained. This Viburnum is native to eastern U.S. and it becomes a small tree.
A choice small tree somewhat like Viburnum prunifolium. It is tardily deciduous with glossy leaves. It bears clusters of white flowers followed by blue-black fruits which are eaten by birds. This is an excellent small specimen tree with year-round interest for sun or light shade. Buds are covered with a deep rich rusty-brown pubescence. Withstands drought quite well. Plant in sun or semi shade with well-drained soil.
This tall evergreen shrub has glossy, leathery leaves about 4 inches long. It bears white flowers in flat-topped clusters followed by bright red fruits. It has proved hardy here in zone 8. Our plants were originally received from the U.S. National Arboretum and not believed to be hardy outdoors there. This rare and little known Viburnum from China appears to be an excellent shrub for the South. Introduced by Woodlanders but probably due to become much more widely available. Plant in semi shade in good moist but well drained soil.
This medium to large shrub can become almost tree-like. It has lustrous dark green leaves which often hold on until late November. Seneca is the result from a self-pollination of V. sieboldii. Selected for abundant, large, pendant inflorescence and red fruit on red pedicels which are attaractive to birds but may persist for 3 months. This selection from the U.S. National Arboretum is of an Asian species.
