November 9, 2009

An Outstanding Shrub for Spring, Summer and Fall Interest


Viburnum 'carlesii ' compactum

Viburnum ' carlesii ' , or Koreanspice, is a very popular seller in the tree department of the garden center where I work and while I sold many myself I didn't think I could find the space for my rather small city garden. Then along came a compact variety so this summer I purchased and planted one.

The Koreanspice has long season interest, beginning with its rather unique Spring blossoms which open pink and turn to white as they mature. The fragrance is similar to a spice cake or cloves and permeates the area so its ideal to plant nearby so you can enjoy its perfume. Expect many bees and butterflies to enjoy it as well.

The summer interest is the beautiful leaves which turn a gorgeous wine and scarlet in the Fall as you can see from the photo I snapped just yesterday. The Spring blossoms mature into red berries as well and add even more interest, especially for the birds.

Avoid watering the leaves of the Koreanspice as they can be prone to mildew and give it a lot of good air circulation. It does not like to be dry so a lot of humus when planting and a good mulching will help maintain moisture .


10 comments:

  1. I have what I thought were koreanspice, but I get no berries. It might be a Judd instead. And is dwarf a relative term? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice that they now have a compact variety. Thanks for making me aware of it.~~Dee

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love, love, love my Korean Spice Viburnum. Glad there is a 'Compactum' variety of it. I highly recommend it to everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I had one of these at my old house. It was planted by the entrance to the house. People coming up the walk could smell it. They always asked what that scent was. I have a small one started here. One of my favorites.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What lovely sounding shrub. So glad you shared about it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Rosemarie,
    Viburnums neeed a cross pollinator to get berries. Dwarf usually means about half the size of the original.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Carol,

    Glad you love your Koean Spice Viburnum. "What's not to love? " as they say. It's got Spring, Summer and Fall interest as well.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Balisha,

    Smart to have it near where people can enjoy the great spicy fragrance.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Mary Delle,

    It is a very lovely shrub, one worth having in the garden.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...