Viburnum koreanai and V. sargentii

I saw a new viburnum (for me) yesterday--V. koreana. Very beautiful fruit and excellent large, glossy foliage. It almost looked like a Hydrangea. It was a young plant, so I couldn't tell much about the size and form. Is anybody growing this?

Another plant I hadn't seen before was V. sargentii, with very bright, juicy red fruit. It looked a lot like the V. setigerum I posted a photo for the other day. It, too, was a young plant. Can anybody tell me much about it?

Scott

Scott:

Did V. koreanum look like the pic below? It's another member of the V. opulus related types, along with V. trilobum, V. edule, and the V. sargentii you asked about. I suspect the plant I have in the pic is V. koreanum, although it was given to me as V. orientale. Closely related either way. My plant has great fall color in addition to the huge red berries. The leaves seem to resist the leaf diseases that plague the others in the group. This whole family doesn't perform that great here, nor for John in KY. I am trying more shade, and it seems to help this group do better--more shade, more water.

V. sargentii is, like I said, closely related to the V. opulus/trilobum group, but gets BIG. 'Onondaga' has the best flowers, like a fine lacecap hydrangea. They suffer the same leaf issues, but my partial shade grown plants appear much happier. Here is a pic of 'Susquehanna' starting to color up.

There are yellow fruited varieties as well--note the fine foliage

...and just for fun, V. sieboldii 'Wavecrest'......

....V. plicatum tomentosum 'West Olive' starting to turn....

Here's a shot I took of the V. koreana.

Scott

Oh, and I wanted you to refresh my memory. What was so special about the "Mount Olive" viburnum?

Scott

The V. p. t. 'West Olive' was selected in Michigan; despite that, it has the most clean vigorous foliage of all this clan at the Valley, and it doesn't seem to notice that it was dragged to KY from the safe warm confines of Elburn, IL. I await copious precocious flowering next spring.

What's so special about it? Why, Kneevin provided it, of course.

Sorry Scott--missed that before. VPT 'West Olive' was found in the same named town in Michigan. I am taking Wavecrest's word that it "is so much better than Shasta!" Why? I am waiting to find out. So far, it has performed far far better than my Shasta in full sun. Both get beat on all day, but West Olive stayed just perfect throught the whole summer, while Shasta was dog-eared at the drop of a hot hat. Fall color is better--there are some truly flourescent reds on it right now, not just "viburnum purple". Since 2005 was the year of the mega drought, flowering wasn't great for either this year, but next year should be a good test. And as John says, the foliage is looking good even late in the season here. Rotundifolium and Sawtooth seem to be equally good, as is Magic Puff, but those all get more shade. I also have a Lanarth in full sun(lots of water) that has good looking foliage as well. No fall color from that one yet.

John--how much did that little 'West Olive' grow? Did you get that this Spring or 2 Springs ago or ????

Does Classic Viburnums carry all the above mentioned cultivars, especially "West Olive?"

I'm giving "Lanarth" a try this year, too. I've had it in a container for a couple of years. It looks to be very lateral, like "Shasta." I also bought a very small V. p. t. called "Mary Milton" at a private plant sale. I know nothing at all about it.

Scott

This message was edited Oct 3, 2006 9:05 PM

Classic Viburnums has everything but West Olive, but I will fix that next year.

Mary Milton is a pink snowball type. Mine has great dark foliage, but it hasn't bloomed yet. Molly Schroeder is a pink lacecap tomentosum type. I think I posted this pic earlier this year. Lots of blooms for a 2' tall plant!

Thought I'd chime in here on a plant that I saw at the Dawes on 5-30-06. V. p. t. 'Rowallane' was in full flower while the others in the collection had finished flowering. It is also distinctly upright in comparison to most of the other Doublefiles. Foliage is smaller providing a finer texture than most Doublefiles. According to the tag, 6 years and it was 6' tall and 5' wide. This appears to be a nice plant to extend the season on Doublefile Viburnums as well as not taking up as much real estate. Also was impressed with 'Fireworks' for dense habit and thick leaves. Notes say 5' x 7' in 10 years.

At the top of the mixed shrub hill was a plant of V. cassinoides that was growing tightly upright. I say this with a bit of misgiving since the plant was only about 3.5' tall and rather young. However, if it continues this upright trend, it could be a real winner in my book. The tag said it was from Mantua Bog, Portage County. I googled this and found that the bog is in NE Ohio. If anyone knows anything about it, I'd be thrilled to know more. I'm always looking for smaller or more narrow plants to fit in shrinking yards. Unfortunately, I had left my battery charger at home on this trip and arrived at the Dawes after several other arboretums with about 1/20 of a charge to the battery. Not many pictures that trip.

Regards,
Ernie

Ernie--Interesting that Dawes has Rowallane--I have been looking for that one and thought it only available in the UK. I wonder if Dart's Red Robin and Cascade are tucked away somewhere in the US as well. Cool. Scott has pruning shears, and FedEx, don't ya Scott?

Ernie you should call Gary Ladman at Classic Viburnums as he too is on a quest for smaller and more upright Viburnums. 308-425-3057. Great guy, and loves talkin' Viburnums.

I was thinking the same thng, Kevin. And V.p.t. root very easily from hardroot cuttings takine in winter. I know that for a fact. Hmmm. Stay tuned.

Sctt

Winter hardwood cuttings, Scott? I can believe it, but I bet not uniform rootability across the clonal selections (or Kevin would have no trouble finding his Grail). Some of the viburnum selections are rare in cultivation because they are reluctant to throw roots. The ones that are common as deer hoofprints (Shasta, Mariesii, Pink Beauty, etc.) root like Johnsongrass.

Kevin:

You provided 'West Olive' in February when Scott and I were on my "therapeutic" trip. It was a wee thing plucked from the safety of your place, and unceremoniously plopped into a vacant spot in the nursery rows here. Semi-debilitated, I've given it not much attention this year. Had to excise a lot of giant foxtail just to find it when looking to document plants.

Here's what the young lad has done; that's about 24 inches tall, and looking good 08/12/06.

This message was edited Oct 4, 2006 11:37 AM