Valuable Viburnums

REMEMBER THOSE gangly snowball bushes growing in so many old gardens? As a kid, I marveled at how, in spring, a bunch of sticks transformed into a green bush drooping with the weight of dozens of round white balls that reminded me tantalizingly of those sticky, forbidden, coconut-topped Hostess snowballs. The plant I remember was Viburnum opulus `Roseum.' I now grow its more compact, snowball-less relative, V. opulus `Nana,' a 3-foot dwarf as wide as it is tall, with the same maple-shaped leaves, plus striking fall color.

More than a dozen different viburnums lend a framework to my garden year-round, as well as sweet perfume and showy fruit. It is possible to have a viburnum in flower nearly every month of the year. Some are compact, others imposing; some are evergreen but most are deciduous.

Viburnum davidii has been so overused as to become a cliche; I still remember my first sight of the metallic blue berries on this evergreen shrub growing in a mass planting around the Lake City library. I was shelving books at that branch while in high school (one of the few jobs available for 16-year-olds unable to stay awake late enough to work in a fast-food joint - such is how careers are chosen). Believe me, a plant has to be pretty spectacular to catch the eye of a teenage girl. Despite the scorn heaped upon this plant due to its overuse in municipal and roadside plantings, I grow it in several spots in the garden, and I still admire the juxtaposition of glowing berries, pink buds and dark, veined leaves. In summer, these low-growing shrubs disappear amid a haze of herbaceous plantings, but emerge undaunted to anchor the winter border.

Now that I've admitted to admiring two of the most common viburnum, we can go on to the more interesting possibilities. Viburnum x bodnantense begins blooming in late autumn and flowers off and on through spring. Its upright, twiggy shape is awkward, so bury it among other plants. But plant it where you will get frequent hits of its incredibly sweet perfume, especially welcome during the winter. `Dawn' has bright pink flowers; `Deben' has white flowers with a pink blush. An evergreen winter-bloomer is V. tinus, which grows into a handsome, rounded shrub or small tree. Fragrant white flower clusters open November through spring, followed by blue berries in the summer. It is a bit tender and blooms most dependably in a protected spot; V. tinus `Variegatum' has showy, yellow-margined leaves and needs even more shelter from the cold.

In a genus known for its fragrance, the Korean spice viburnum (V. carlesii) stands out for its sweet, clove-tinged perfume, kind of like a carnation, but more so. Its pink buds open in May to large (for a viburnum) white flowers in rounded clusters. The foliage is pale green and slightly felted, the shape rounded to about 5 feet.

While you'd plant many viburnum for their flower and fragrance rather than form, Viburnum tomentosum `Summer Snowflake,' developed at the University of British Columbia, is an elegant, layered shrub, ideal for anchoring border plantings. Its gleamingly pure white blossoms, in flat clusters, appear in abundance late in May, then on and off throughout the summer.

Nearly all viburnums want full sun but will tolerate some light shade, appreciate good drainage, have few disease or pest problems, and respond well to pruning.

Valerie Easton is a horticultural librarian and writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com. Jacqueline Koch is a free-lance photographer who lives on Whidbey Island.

Now In Bloom: Trout lilies (Erythronium revolutum) are delicate spring beauties with mottled leaves and upswept petals, ideal for brightening shady, moist borders in April. `Pink Beauty' has yellow-centered, lavender-pink flowers.