Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Shrubs on steroids?

After 2 weeks away some of the spring blooming shrubs are in full bloom. 
At the park side in morning sun & afternoon shade the Viburnum macrocephalum 
or Chinese Snowball as it is know has 6 inch balls of bloom. It has grown far too tall & I plan to cut it back after flowering. This shrub, which is protected but trees & other shrubs, often opens a few blooms early in February. I haven't tried cutting this but it looks like total bridal bouquet.
The lime green color when it first opens is most attractive.

These dusky magenta flowers belong to  the hybrid Calycanthus "Hartlage Wine' developed at NCSU. They are big & beautiful but like so many hybrids no perfume is present. The native Carolina allspice or Sweet Betsy, it's parent, is renown for it's sweet scent. Whether this is an improvement depends on your sensibilities.

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