Photo by: DK – How to Grow Practically Everything
© 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited
DK – How to Grow Practically Everything, 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited
This evergreen shrub has clusters of little red flowers and can be planted as a decorative shrub or works well planted in a container. The tiny blooms and the gold-lined leaves add beautiful color to a garden.
Looking for a shrub that can earn its keep in your yard? Consider Viburnum tinus. This versatile viburnum shrub boasts a host of positive attributes, including evergreen leaves and eye-catching flowers. It has several varieties, including Viburnum ‘Spring Bouquet’ with fragrant spring blooms and Viburnum ‘Lucidum’ with bright berries. Viburnum tinus ‘Gwenllian’ opens white blooms that fade to black berries. Viburnum tinus can fill several roles in the landscape. Learn about this pretty viburnum shrub and how to make it work for you.
Like all viburnum shrubs, Viburnum tinus makes a wonderful addition to a pollinator, bird or wildlife garden. Blossoms cover the shrubs in late winter to early spring, providing an early pollen source for insects and hummingbirds. Flowers eventually fade to berry clusters, which offer a beak pleasing treat to songbirds. The shrubs are densely branched, which provides ideal nesting sites for birds.
Viburnum tinus grows 6 to 12 feet tall and wide. Also known as laurustinus, it opens white flowers in late winter to early spring with a very light fragrance. The blooms occur in a sphere shape cluster and open over a long window. They start as pink buds that unfurl to reveal white petals. Flowers fade to form a steely blue to black berry. Viburnum tinus makes a nice background shrub in a landscape and works well as a hedge.
One of the varieties of Viburnum tinus is ‘Lucidum.’ It’s also sometimes referred to as Viburnum lucidum. This viburnum shrub grows 10 feet tall and wide. Its flowers tend to have a stronger fragrance than Viburnum tinus. The variety ‘Gwenllian’ (Viburnum tinus ‘Gwenllian’) is very similar to viburnum lucidum in terms of flower color, timing and fragrance. The plant
size is different, though, with Viburnum tinus ‘Gwenllian’ growing 6 to 10 feet high and 12 to 15 feet wide. That extra width makes ‘Gwenllian’ a great choice for an informal hedge.
‘Spring Bouquet’ viburnum is another variety of Viburnum tinus — the shortest of the bunch. It reaches a mature size of 6 to 8 feet tall and wide. Its blossoms are also pink buds that open to white. Viburnum ‘Spring Bouquet’ is primarily grown for its perfumed blooms, which can scent an entire backyard.
Viburnum tinus and its varieties are hardy in Zones 7 to 10. The shrubs are deer resistant and adaptable, growing in full sun to part shade. This viburnum shrub is also drought tolerant once established.
SOURCE:http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/outdoors/gardening/viburnum-tinus