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Viburnum carlesii - Fragrant Viburnum or it's also known as Koreanspice Viburnum.
It's May day here in New Haven, Connecticut and if there is a plant to put next to the
may pole when the wee ones weave in and out with their ribbons this would be the one to
plant. The aroma of the fragrant viburnum is a serious presence in the landscape. You
don't have to actually put your nose in this flower to pick up its fragrance, you can smell
it from many feet around. The buds in spring are a deep red, as the flowers emerge they
are pink and then they change to white overtime. The flowers only last about ten days or two
weeks but they are a knockout in the garden.
They make good cut flowers though they don't last that long in the vase. But if you have
a special event during early May, whether it's a derby day party or May day event then
taking some flowers for the vase is a great idea, bring it into the house.
This particular variety is a named cultivar called Aurora. The straight species Viburnum
carlesii gets about eight to ten feet tall, but Aurora stays a nice well behaved six feet
tall and perhaps five to six feet wide. It also has reliably good fall color, the straight
species turns a dull red, you might get some variability there might be some brighter Reds
in there, but this plant has a really nice vibrant red fall color in November.
This vibernum should be planted in full sun for best flowering. Also well drained but
average garden soil is recommended, they don't like to sit in water for extended periods
of time. There is a viburnum leaf beetle that affects all viburnums. We don't have seem
to have this problem here and especially with this plant. There are some other pest problems,
there's a rust that affects viburnums and aphids might affect viburnum but we have found
here that there seems to be enough presence of the beneficial insects to keep most of
the pests like aphids to a minimum. We don't see too much predation on this plant.
Fragrant viburnum or Korean spice viburnum has a wonderful fuzzy leaf. It's somewhat
corrugated on on the surface it's kind of an interesting effect. The mid green leaves
seem to be a nice backdrop for many of the summer flowering plants. This plant is native
to Japan and Korea and was named for him W. R. Charles a botanist and plant collector.
Viburnum the genus name is a Latin name for the plant that is native to that part of the
Mediterranean and it's a member of the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. There about a hundred
and fifty species in the genus and many of them are fragrant but none have the aroma
of this Carlesii. If you have room in your garden for only one spring flowering shrub
this should probably be it. With the added attraction of the nice fall color Viburnum
carlesii Aurora is a great choice.
Fragrant Viburnum or Koreanspice Viburnum - Viburnum carlesii (Aurora) has been described
as the most amazingly fragrant garden plant available.