Garden Flowers

This month’s Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, features Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’.

At this time of year when our gardens can tend to look a little bit bare, it’s wonderful to have a flowering shrub to brighten up your borders.

This particular variety of Viburnum is just the ticket, with its clusters of pretty tubular flowers which also have a heavenly fragrance.

When the blooms initially appear, they are deep pink buds, which then open into light pink and white flowers.  They continue flowering on the plant from late autumn into early spring.

Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ prefers to be planted in a sunny site, but will also be happy in dappled shade.  And it likes moderately fertile, well-drained soil.  It works particularly well planted next to a pathway where the scent can really be appreciated.

With its oval shaped dark green leaves, the shrub is hardy which means that it can cope with low temperatures and the flowers are generally frost resistant.

Apart from the ‘Dawn’ variety, there are two other varieties of Viburnum x bodnantense…Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Deben’ and Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Charles Lamont’.

Do cut sprigs from the shrub to decorate your home, as the cut flowers last a long time.  The cut stems benefit from being seared in boiling water so that the petals hold.

(Images : Lisa Cox, Flickr/Anne Tanne, Flickr/Ann Rafalko, Flickr/Tie Guy II)

Original content source: Garden Flowers: Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’…a pretty & scented shrub

This month my Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, features Salvia involucrata. It’s a wonderful tall herbaceous perennial that has vibrant pink flowers which appear in the summer and continue well into the autumn. Read more

This month’s Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, features violas. Read more

This month’s Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, features penstemon. Read more

This month’s Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, features Japanese Anemones. Read more

This month’s Garden Flowers post,which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, features Heleniums.  The flower’s common name is Sneezeweed which is derived from the false belief that they cause hay fever. Read more

In this month’s Garden Flowers blog post which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, we’re looking at a very popular garden plant, the hydrangea. Read more

This month’s Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona features the top three new plants at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Read more

This month, my Garden Flowers blog post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona features one of our favourite flowers, the peony, whose Latin name is Paeonia. Read more

In this month’s Garden Flowers blog post which I write with blogger and freelance writer, Rona Wheeldon, we’re looking at perhaps one of the lesser well-known garden plants, the flowering currant. Read more