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Photos of my Viburnum with flowers April/May each year, as well as recent photos with it all green/with buds. Taken photos almost every year of this, but these are my first electronic photo collections so it seems I don't have any close ups of the blossoms---will keep looking.
Are all Viburnums white flowers? The Snowball variety I have is the centerpiece in front yard, all who pass by marvel at the April Fragrance, and Huge blooms.
Lately the squirrels now nesting in front Pin Oak tree tall enough to support a nest have eaten the buds during winter/early spring so there are less flowers, but I consider it time to help green up the plant and make it larger, or does losing the buds harm the plant? Can't shoot oops shoo away squirrels, tried repellant bags etc in other areas and does not work.
For over 50 years people have cut off the blooms and given as gifts to kids etc in schools/neighborhood. I'm sure some nursery must be selling these but since we have only one people ever see or get close to its a people magnet!
Hmmm so I was just wondering ... how do you make a "new" bush? Don't want to lose this one/type, but would be nicer if it had new, younger ones in bed of woodchips around it!
As for location see my other post today where a mystery new plant is growing where I'd place more baby Viburnum plants.
One more question: The last photo in series shows leaves curling up. Maybe its from the plus 90 degree heat waves this past July, or might be something else to worry about. Let me know what's going on. (no insect inside the curled up leaves when I open them).
Thanks!
( I tried to follow Viburnum Valley's advice and post a "new" topic but those don't allow photos for some reason! Or maybe since I'm not a paid member yet, so posting this topic under "plant identification", so enjoy the photos anyway!)
Snowballs root from stem cutting very easily. Put a bunch of stem cuttings in a pot full of good soil in late September and next spring you will have as many starts as you wish.
Kay Jones: Thanks...but do you mean cut back all the current growth? (50+ years worth?) I remove dead branches as they appear. Heavy 8' snowfall two years ago killed off the Side half of the bush which is now why its not "round" anymore but the half round shape as the side facing the camera in the flowers picture died/cracked with the weight of snow and was cut back. About 10 branches the largest about 3" thick. Which is why I got worried about losing the "only" bush as all come from a common point in the ground.
Willowwind2
Great! I'll do that...but how long should each stem cutting be? Should it have just top leaves or how many leaf sets/pairs should there be to insure its vital enough to grow new ones? When is a good time to take the cuttings? Now or in the Fall? I assume I trim off the leaves before sticking in the soil, but I've done Forsythia for decades just sticking the whole stem with leaves and all in the soil until we have 9 feet long row of that type of bush.
To do the cuttings, cut under a node or two from the top. At the top leave one pair of leaves and you can cut half of each remaining leaf off. The cutting should be 4" to 6"s or so. You can plant the cutting so two nodes are under the soil and just the stem with the leaves is above the soil. Just like you do your forsythia and hydrangia in the fall.
Don't cut that old plant to the ground. That would be merciless, and unnecessary. A plant that old - and already stressed from being damaged - would not likely respond so well to this rejuvenation technique that is appropriate to younger healthier specimens.
Follow the advice given for hardwood cuttings, and see how you do. Old plants are sometimes more difficult to root than younger more vigorous plants. You can find pretty good directions for rooting semi-hardwood cuttings taken in early summer from new growth extensions (a bit more complicated) by doing an online search.
I think that plant is likely a Viburnum carlesii - Korean Spice Viburnum. Without a scale against which to judge those flowers, I can't separate it from another common fragrant viburnum like Viburnum x carlcephalum. Both are great plants, with the latter having much larger flowers that bloom a little later on a larger coarser plant.
while you can cut some plants to the ground, you can't do it with all of them and especially if they're very old. the trunk is too woody to support new growth and at most, you'd end up with a lot of suckers that would take forever to grow.
Sorry for the delay to everyone! So many replies. I appreciate all of your advice, will answer some of them below:
kwanjin: Yes I like the spilling over effect too, but really never noticed that before as the ones that WERE there up until two winters ago (heavy snowfall) were matched creating a mostly round bush. You can see some of the larger branches (4) still sticking up that I cut off after the weight of the snow broke them off near the center of the bush. They extended toward the camera's position forward making it a rounder bush. That's why when I found this site to ask my first question, this was my most important question to ask after that.
Thank you WIllowwind2 for the instructions about doing the cuttings and Will do it soon in September. As for cutting it back see my reply to ViburnumValley right below, as to why that long one is the only one of many which is still left growing from the winter damage.
Yes, trackinsand the trunks are very old and while they always put out new shoots at the top, I've rarely seen any from the root ball area, despite losing so many branches, nothing came up yet to replace them, so I'm just going to be careful how I prune the living ones.
Thank you ViburnumValley for the advice. I certainly would not take any chances with this one specimin I have, which is why for the first time I was asking how to propagate more of them. Will fill in the bed of wood chips planting them in the center in a row hoping they will grow and fill in what the older bush lost and create a row of them. Where the camera is standing is a walkway and the overenthusaistic snow shovellers we had during that monster series of storms two winters ago just heaved the snow higher and further away from the walkway onto the bush. I dug out what I could but their early morning shovelling had done the damage in the dead of winter, too late to repair it.
How tall is the tree in that Photo. If any of the branches are flexible enough, you could pin down one (or more) of the slender branches into the soil. Make a shallow cut in the bark and keep it open with a sliver of wood or a match where it touches the soil. Cover the pinned area with soil and weigh it down with a rock or brick. Support the leafy end of the branch, with a shallow rock under it to keep it out of the soil. When roots have grown, you can sever the branch and either pot it up or plant it in the new site straight away - depending on the weather, of course!
I may be talking through my hat, here, as I have no experience with Viburnum in particular, but I have done it with many others, Azalea, Weigela, Maybush (Spiraea)and the like.
Well at least the big one on the bottom.
