Koreanspice Viburnum

(Caprifoliaceae - Honeysuckle Family)

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• Form
  • medium-sized ornamental shrub
  • maturing at about 8' tall by 8' wide
  • upright rounded growth habit, becoming spreading with age and usually branching close to the ground
  • slow growth rate

• Culture
  • full sun to partial shade
  • performs best in partial sun in moist, well-drained, slightly acidic soils enriched in organic matter, but is adaptable to poorer soils, soils of various pH, and drought
  • propagated primarily by rooted stem cuttings, but also by seeds or grafting (older shrubs that have been long-established may be grafted onto Wayfaringtree Viburnum rootstock, and suckers have to be repeatedly pruned away before they overtake the grafted scion)
  • Honeysuckle Family, with no significant pest problems, but bacterial leaf spot and powdery mildew are occasional cosmetic diseases
  • commonly available in ball and burlap form

• Foliage
  • gray-green to blue-green leaves are dull (that is, not shiny), deciduous (or nearly so), opposite, broad-elliptical to ovate, subtlely serrated, thick, on a very short petiole, with a dense pubescence on the upper leaf surface and even more densely pubescent on the lower surface, with a white-green color beneath
  • fall color is bronzed to wine in good years if placed in a sunny location, but is usually poor in shady areas, being of mixed or green color

• Flowers
  • dark pink buds open to white inflorescences tinged in pink, to 3" in diameter, opening in mid-April with the emergent foliage and composed of hemispherical to spherical clusters of individual flowers
  • inflorescences are extremely fragrant and effective for two weeks

• Fruit
  • clusters of fruit change from green to red to black by early Autumn, with each small fruit being broadly elliptical but distinctly flattened, usually sparsely borne along the fruiting stalk due to poor cross-pollination, nearly hidden by the foliage, and ornamentally insignificant

• Twigs
  • twigs are tan and pubescent, becoming densely branching with age, and with buds that are naked (i.e., without true scales)
  • the prominent terminal floral buds are knobby and obvious in Winter, while the vegetative buds are terminal or lateral and elongated

• Trunk
  • mature bark is gray-brown and fissuring on the spreading trunks, which branch low to the ground and give the shrub its overall rounded or spreading growth habit

• ID Summary
  • densely pubescent leaves are dull gray-green to blue-green above and white-green below, borne in opposite fashion on pubescent tan stems, having a subtle maroon fall color in good years or sunny sites
  • flowers combine into hemispherical, extremely fragrant inflorescences that are pink in bud but white in flower, in mid-April, profusely borne on mature shrubs that are low-branching and relatively heavy-flowering in partial shade, but better in sunny spots

• Function
  • informal hedge, border, entranceway, foundation, or specimen shrub, especially noted for its showy flowers that have a heavy fragrance

• Texture
  • medium texture in foliage and when bare
  • thick density in foliage and when bare

• Assets
  • extremely fragrant mid-April inflorescences
  • dense and attractive, pubescent, gray-green to blue-green foliage
  • usually branches close to the ground (i.e., generally not leggy with age)

• Liabilities
  • slow growth rate
  • occasional leaf spot or powdery mildew are minor cosmetic foliage diseases

• Habitat
  • zones 4 to 7
  • native to Korea and Japan

• Alternates
  • shrubs with grayish-green or bluish-green foliage (Fothergilla gardenii, Ilex x meserveae, Viburnum lantana, etc.)
  • fragrant-flowering shrubs (Clethra alnifolia, Itea virginica, Philadelphus species, Syringa species, Viburnum x burkwoodii, Viburnum x juddii, etc.)
  • dense and medium-sized, rounded to spreading informal hedges (Cornus alba 'Ivory Halo', Syringa meyeri, Viburnum x juddii, Weigela florida 'Variegata', etc.)

• Variants
  • Viburnum carlesii 'Cayuga' - noted for its larger inflorescences that do not open all at once, and thus having pink buds and white flowers on the same inflorescence during the early flowering period, but it should be more prominently noted for its extremely dark-green, shiny, less pubescent, and larger leaves that clothe the stems in a dense coverage of foliage; very vigorous, often listed as a rounded shrub to 5' tall and wide, but closer to 8' tall by 5' wide and somewhat leggy with age
  • Viburnum carlesii 'Compactum' - slowly maturing to 3' tall by 3' wide, a truly compact form of the species, but unfortunately rare in commerce
  • Viburnum x carlcephalum - Snowball Viburnum - maturing to 8' tall by 8' wide, with huge (5" across) fragrant white spherical inflorescences, a hybrid of Viburnum carlesii and Viburnum macrocephalum
  • Viburnum x juddii - Judd Viburnum - slowly maturing to 8' tall by 8' wide, identical in appearance and fragrance yet a slightly superior alternative to Koreanspice Viburnum, as it has better resistance to leaf spot and is easier to root for propagation; a hybrid of Viburnum carlesii and Viburnum bitchiuense

• Translation
  • Viburnum is the classical Latin name for Wayfaringtree Viburnum.
  • carlesii is named for W.R. Carles, who collected the plant from the Orient.

• Purpose
  • Koreanspice Viburnum is a slow-growing shrub that is well worth the wait, with grayish pubescent foliage that is preceeded by the very showy, hemispherical inflorescences that are extremely fragrant during early Spring.

• Summary
  • Viburnum carlesii is a shrub with pubescent gray-green foliage, extremely fragrant pink-budded to floral-white April inflorescences, and a rounded growth habit.