July 31 column: Viburnums

One of my favorite shrubs is the Viburnum. They are such great, all-around plants in my garden with so many wonderful attributes: beautiful flowers, some have a lovely fragrance, most produce berries, and they have awesome fall foliage. I mean, what’s not to like about Viburnums?

Here is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Vibrant, hardy viburnums a year-round joy.

In it, I discuss 5 of the best Viburnums for zone 5 climates. If you live in a warmer zone, most of these do well up to zone 9, plus you have even more options.

In my own garden, I have four Koreanspice Viburnums (V. carlesii) which is pictured above, one Burkwood (V. burwoodii), two snowball Viburnums (V. opulus), and several American Cranberry bushes (V. trilobum). If you haven’t heard of the last one, I heartily recommend it. Here are photos of it in the fall and winter. Notice those lovely red berries! The birds — most notably Cedar and Bohemian waxwings — go bonkers over them in the winter. Remember that you can click on the images to see a larger view.

   

I hope you’ll enjoy today’s column and that it gives you some ideas for your own garden!