Monday 24 October 2011

Fuzzy White Stars

You know when you have a picture hanging on the wall for years, you hardly even notice it, because it has always been there - well, that's how it is with some garden plants for me.  The Viburnam Tinus which I use as hedging and a windbreak in a couple of places in the garden, hardly gets a second look.  But yesterday, whilst I was pottering about, I suddenly  caught sight of the Viburnam in flower, and thought 'when did that happen'.
For part of the year it is quite a dull-looking plant, which serves its purpose on the shady side of the garden, then it comes alive with beautiful pink, tight-curled buds, which open out into little fizzy white stars, which have a rather nice fragrance and are handy for bringing indoors when little else is flowering.  One of the downsides to this shrub is that they grow very quickly to a great height, but they can take a severe pruning and recover well. 

Last year I cut one of them down to nothing, as it had well outgrown its space - and now it is showing lots of new leaves which are a lovely fresh green before they turn to their rather dull colour again.  After flowering it produces little berries - so all in all I think it warrants a place in the garden.  Oh and they grow easily from cuttings as well.

6 comments:

  1. It think it's this time of year when the Summer glories have faded that we really appreciate the garden stalwarts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sweet little blossoms -- like tiny bouquets.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've got the variety Gwellian but it just hasn't seemed happy. I've had it a few years now. It was attacked by Viburnum beetle in the first year and has suffered quite a bit from frost damage over the last two winters. It seems to have perked up this summer. Maybe it could read my mind and realised it's time was numbered as my patience was wearing thin.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hvor er den dog smuk.
    Tak for kigget.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Elaine, I have several Viburnam, but not this beautiful one. I really like that the buds are pink and the flowers white. The second color is a pretty bonus.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think you should award the viburnum an "Elaine Rickett" gold medal!

    ReplyDelete