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Viburnums
Shrubs for
Wyobraska Springs
Juddi
Korean Spice |
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It’s looking like it might be
quite a colorful spring in Wyobraska. That’s good,
because spring is usually the shortest and least
colorful of the Wyobraska landscape seasons. The
calendar says that Spring starts on March 21 and
lasts until June 21, but the real spring in a
Wyobraska landscape starts somewhere around the
middle of April—that’s when the weather becomes
dependable enough for even the earliest of trees to
grow leaves--and lasts until about the 10th
of June—that’s when our weather typically becomes
hot enough to be summerlike.
There are two reasons that I think that 2008 might
bring an exceptionally colorful spring. The first
is that this past winter did not bring the extreme
cold temperatures that damage overwintering flower
buds on spring blooming trees and shrubs. And
second, the progression from winter to springtime
weather has been very gradual, without the wild week
to week fluctuation in temperatures that are typical
of February, March, and April weather in Wyobraska. |
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But after a long winter it’s
natural to want to see something blooming in our
spring landscape. Tulips, daffodils, and many of
the other spring bulb flowers are one great option
for spring color in a Wyobraska landscape. Most of
these plants are actually native to the cold, dry
regions of southwest Asia,--a region with soils and
springtime weather very similar to Wyobraska. If
you forgot to plant bulbs last fall, a great option
for that early spring flowers to remind that spring
is on the way are pansies. The big bright flowers
on these very tough little plants don’t miss a beat
from March through mid June—when they are finally
drowned out by the large sun-loving perennial
flowers, ornamental grasses, and summer-flowering
shrubs that are the mainstays of a Wyobraska
landscape.
Fortunately, there are also a number of spring
flowering shrubs which deliver dependable blooming
in the unpredictable Wyobraska landscape, without
taking too much landscape space away from the
feature attractions of summer. |
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Previous Articles
I
It's
Finally Spring - March 13
Spring Garden Calendar-March 20
No
Garden Left Behind-March 27
Planting Trees for a Cooler Earth in a Warmer
WyoBraska-April 3
2007 Articles
2006 Articles |
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Our customary highly variable
springtime temperatures often cause some plants to
bloomer earlier than they should, with the result
being that the early blooms are damaged by freezing
temperatures. With the later spring that seems to
be developing this year, there is a good chance that
we will avoid that frustrating scenario. In my own
landscape, tulips that were in full bloom a year ago
at this time are only half grown, and I don’t expect
to see them in bloom until late April, perhaps even
early May. Last year those tulips got hit pretty
hard by an early April cold snap. This year they
should be blooming late enough to avoid that
problem.
Our “undependable springs” are
why I continue to recommend caution when selecting
spring flowering plants for Wyobraska landscapes.
Unfortunately, it is very easy to overdo the number
of spring flowering plants in your landscape—with
disappointing results. A main reason that it is so
easy to overdo spring flowering plants in your
landscape is because garden centers are loaded with
spring flowering plants during the spring—when most
homeowners go shopping for landscape plants.
That’s great for garden centers and for homeowners
that live in regions of the country with long and
dependable springs, but not so great for Wyobraskans.
With spring being such a short
and undependable season in Wyobraska, to create a
Wyobraska landscape that is overloaded on spring
interest is almost certain to lead to frustration.
Mother Nature gave summer to Wyobraskans as our most
colorful landscape season, and Wyobraska landscapes
designed around plants that bloom in the summer
consistently deliver visual delight to their
homeowner. |
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A large, and as yet unexplored, family of shrubs
that have great potential for Wyobraska landscapes
are the viburnums. The viburnums offer primarily
white blooms, with some approaching pink. Some are
quite fragrant, and most will bloom in May in
Wyobraska. Viburnums prefer the
part-sun/part-shade environment that is typical of
so many locations in residential landscapes. They
are mostly in the large shrub category—with 6-12’
mature heights, making them ideal choices for the
“bones” of a landscape or garden—those plants that
divide up the space, screen unpleasant views, and
retain their size and shape for the entire landscape
year. A few are even semi-evergreen—retaining green
leaves in the winter-time. Most, but not all, have
good to excellent red fall foliage. As a group,
viburnums are excellent seasonal bookends to our
dynamic and colorful summertime landscape.
Like shrub roses, viburnums are
currently receiving a lot of attention from plant
breeders and hybridizers because of their ornamental
potential. Most national nurseries seem to be
adding one or more viburnums to their shrub list
every year. Here’s some that you’ll likely be
seeing more of in Wyobraska:
Koreanspice Viburnum
Juddi Viburnum
Jackii Viburnum
Burkwood Viburnum
See our viburnum
page for information all many varieties |