Friday 16 December 2011

Winter Flowering Viburnum

Viburnum bodnantense is one of the best frost resistant winter flowering shrubs. I have two of these, one in front of the house and the other at the bottom of the garden.
It is a deciduous shrub of upright habit which grows to about 8ft tall. The leaves are green oval shaped, the young leaves being tinged with bronze. Flowers are borne in 1 to 2 inch long clusters on the bare branches from December through to February. These open from rose red buds and gradually fade to pink, and then to white. As a bonus the flowers are also fragrant. When the sun catches them they look like little fairy lights adorning the branches.
This shrub grows well in any fertile moist garden soil and is best planted in full sun. It requires very little pruning. Just thin out overgrown shrubs by cutting the oldest stems back to the base after flowering (about April/May), and at the same time cut out any damaged or dead wood. 


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