KOREAN SPICE
A few years ago I first caught wind–literally–of the fragrant flowers of Viburnum carlesii, also known as Korean spice viburnum. The scent is intensely sweet and pervasive, with just enough clove-like notes to keep it from being cloying. In the space of a few minutes, Korean spice viburnum became my latest heart’s desire and I put everything else on hold until I got one for the garden. I had no idea where I would put it, but such mundane concerns never stop me. Even if Viburnum carlesii had been the size of a mastodon and available only on Guam, I would have made every effort to find one.
Fortunately, the shrub is relatively easy to obtain and never approaches mastodon size. My four-year old specimen is now about five feet tall and three feet wide. It would probably be bigger, but it was clobbered by a giant limb during a storm last fall, requiring the removal of a few damaged branches. Eventually it will become a fairly dense shrub, reaching five to eight feet high and four to eight feet wide. I may have to trim it a bit to keep it within the bounds of its garden home.
In March or April, depending on climate conditions, the shrub forms flower heads of tightly clustered dark pink buds. These open into three inch-wide snowballs composed of scores of five-petaled white blossoms. When my Viburnum carlesii is in bloom, I can smell it from at least six feet away. The fragrance intensity is similar to that of hyacinths–one bloom is enough to perfume an average room indoors. Two or more exude too much fragrance for a confined space. I position one cut blossom in the foyer of my house so I can smell it upstairs and down and visitors catch the scent the moment they walk in the front door.
Lovely and fragrant as they are, the blooms do not last forever. When not in flower, the shrub is still good looking, getting by on its ovoid, two-inch long green leaves, which often turn dark red in the fall. The berries change from red to black late in the season, but are not as prominent or attractive as those on some other viburnums.
The main reason to buy a Korean spice viburnum is the spring scent–but it is reason enough.
Viburnum carlesii was named for an Englishman, William Carles, a member of the British Consular Service and amateur plant collector in the late nineteenth century. Maggie Campbell Culver, in her wonderful book, The Origin of Plants, mentions that Carles collected plants in Korea in 1883-1885, which is when he must have obtained the plant that was named in his honor. The species was first described by English botanist William Botting Hemsley, who had a long career at the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, ending up as Keeper of the Herbarium and Library. He was the author or co-author of many plant books, including the ambitiously-titled, An Enumeration of All the Plants Known from China Proper, Formosa, Hainan, Corea, the Luchu Archipelago, and the Island of Hong Kong; published in 1887. Presumably this is where he first described Korean spice viburnum.
Anything that smells as good as this viburnum was bound to catch on fast, especially in late Victorian and Edwardian England where the nose-wrinkling odors of wet wool and rising damp sometimes predominated. By 1907, Viburnum carlesii was so popular that its portrait appeared in the well-respected Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. If it had not made its way to the United States by that time, it was soon to do so. My 1947 edition of the Wayside Gardens catalog refers to the shrub as “a great favorite.” Wayside’s cultural information is still good today: “”¦hardy, easily grown and does well in light shade, as well as in full sun.” Mine is very lightly shaded by a deciduous tree, so it gets lots of sun when it is forming flower buds in early spring. The modest shade probably keeps it a bit cool in the summer, which is a plus. I mulch it, but otherwise ignore it and it seems to thrive
It is no surprise the Korean spice viburnum attracts butterflies and other pollinating insects as readily as it attracts human admirers. Some sources say it is deer resistant, but I always take such phrases with a big grain of salt. Suffice it to say that a moderately hungry deer will probably eat other plants, like your daylilies or hostas, first.
Some large garden centers and specialty nurseries probably carry Viburnum carlesii. If you can’t find one nearby, the shrub is available from ForestFarm, 990 Tetherow Road, Williams, OR 97544, (541) 846-7269, www.forestfarm.com. Catalog $5.00.