How to Grow Viburnums

Wonderfully adaptable and easy to grow Viburnums will perform in full sun to partial shade and many soil conditions. Outstanding features such as lovely flowers, fall color and showy berries make this shrub an old fashioned favorite for any yard. This beautiful woody perennial is an easy solution for many landscaping problems and will provide value and permanence to the landscape for many years to come.

Viburnum, a member of the honey suckle family, boasts over 150 species to choose from. Varieties range from a small rounded two foot shrub to a small, wide, twelve foot ornamental tree. The most difficult task in growing these shrubs may well be picking just one variety that has the features and requirements needed for your landscape from so many choices available.

Viburnums are at home in zones 2 through 9 in the U.S. and are normally not picky about growing conditions. Although they seem to prefer full sun and moderately wet, rich, well-drained soil, many will thrive in partial sun and dry clay soils. Viburnums like an acid soil of pH 5.6 to 6.6 but many plants do well in more alkaline soil. Garden success is very easy to achieve with Viburnums.

Viburnum's fall color, attractive berries and showy flowers provide year long interest to the garden. The flowers of a Viburnum are typically white or pink and come in three general shapes. Flower selections include snowball type clusters, flat clusters of florets or flat umbles with large flowers ringing the outer edge of stems.

This old fashioned favorite provides an excellent wildlife habitat for the birds. Many varieties bear fruit which attracts birds. Most types of Viburnums will require two shrubs for cross pollination to produce berries. Some varieties produce fruit which can be used for making jams and jellies.

There is among species of Viburnum no typical foliage pattern. Leaves may be rounded, lance-like, toothed, smooth or rough. Almost all varieties are deciduous but new varieties have been recently introduced that bear evergreen foliage. Many species provide bursts of fall color.

These shrubs prefer to be planted or transplanted in the spring so as to have the entire growing season to become acclimated. A fibrous root system makes transplanting young plants fairly simple although older more established Viburnums are more permanent and can be difficult to move.

Viburnum is largely pest and disease free due to extensive breeding by the U.S. National Arboretum. Aphids may occasionally become a problem but they will probably disappear in a week or two. If the pests persist an insecticide can be applied. Viburnums are also a good choice for areas where deer are a problem. Deer do not seem to bother this woody ornamental.

With outstanding features and easy growth habit Viburnum just may be the perfect addition to your landscape.

Works cited

http://urbantext.illinois.edu/hortihints accessed 28 July 2009

http://gardening.about.com/od/treesshrubs accessed 28 July 2009