by Janette Peel

Created on: June 05, 2009

Viburnums are easy-growing, wonderfully fragrant year-round delights that beautify the garden with clouds of white or pale pink blooms in spring and berries in summer.

Multi-purpose Viburnums bring much to the garden. A lavish display of ball-shaped or flat flowers; often a rich fragrance; red, blue or black berries; and spectacular autumn foliage color. Combine these assets with easy growth, and you have an assortment of fine plants for all sorts of landscaping options.

For fragrance, you can depend on Viburnum carlesii, the Korean Spice Viburnum. Scent from the rounded clusters of white or pink flowers (opening from pink buds) permeate the garden in early spring. Blue-black fruits ripen in summer and then, in autumn, the rounded, 2.2 meter bush glows a lively red.

Old-fashioned favorite Guelder Rose makes an arching, 3-7 meter tall plant, displaying its late spring, white flowers in a lacecap formation: large, showy flowers around a cluster of tiny blooms. By late summer, this bush is decorated with a show of bright red berries. In autumn, its Maple-like leaves turn bright red. The variety 'Compactum' has the same features on a rounded plant that grows 1.5 meters tall.

The elegant 6 meter Double-file Viburnum displays its 15 cm white, lacecap flower clusters on the upper sides of branches with leaves pointed downward. The horizontal branching pattern creates a layered display of blooms in late spring followed by red fruits that mature to black.

The multi-seasons beauty of Viburnums deserves a prominent garden position in full sun or light shade.

For points of interest throughout the growing season, plant Viburnums with other shrubs that have flowers and fruits at different times of the year. When planted among evergreen shrubs, the red-to-purple autumn foliage color of Viburnums really makes a statement.

An individual Viburnum makes an attractive garden showpiece at the edge of a bed, next to a house or along a path where you can savor the fragrance.

With their dense growth and solid foliage color, Viburnums can be planted as informal hedges. Two of the best Viburnums for this are the Guelder Rose and fragrant Korean Spice.

Viburnums are a must for any garden featuring a springtime display of blooms.

Plant larger species, such as V. lantana, for contrast among Mountain Laurels and Rhododendrons. The pale pink, flower-draped branches of 'Pink Beauty' Viburnum make a striking backdrop to bright Azaleas massed

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