photo by SVSeekins
Just when it seems all the trees are bare & the skies will be permanently grey, these small pink flower clusters catch my attention & bring on a smile.
They even offer a sweet scent! For these 2 reasons alone the Viburnum Pink Dawn wins prime Real Estate at the edge of the shrub border of our short driveway.
photo by SVSeekins
Right through to late summer it’s just another green shrub earning space in the garden by working as a privacy screen. As there’s so much else urging me to explore the garden, this shrub blends right into the background.
Through autumn its green leaves take on a coppery tinge offering seasonal interest. Like many other deciduous shrubs in our garden, that’s nice… and counts as another reason to keep it around.photo by SVSeekins
But in winter, especially at Christmas, when we come & go between the dry vehicle & the warm house, we hardly enter the garden at all. At the driveway’s edge, Viburnum bodnantense gets all the attention & appreciation. The rest of the garden is pretty much ignored.
photo by SVSeekins
It will hold its own for several more months, sharing the spotlight with a sequence of spring bulbs: the early snowdrops in January, the crocus in February, and daffodils in March.
What a winning strategy. I’m not likely to question its value to the garden or reconsider its highly visible position near the driveway.
photo by SVSeekins
The first time I noticed one of these winter flowering treasures was when I moved to the property on Cedar Hill. (I’m sure the shrub is still there today)
It had maxed out at 10 feet tall.
In the summer I enjoyed the privacy it gave us as we sipped wine under the front porch.
In the rainy winter, I held off the blues with its promises of spring.
Birds nested in it, even though it was right beside the house.
The deer left it alone.
It grew slowly, so required very little maintenance.
photo by SVSeekins
It was definitely a keeper. Even the Royal Horticultural Society in Britain had given it their Award of Garden Excellence.
When we started our search for a new property, it was right near the top of our ‘want’ list for the new garden. I tried taking cuttings several times with no success.
photo by SVSeekins
After we moved to our new home with no viburnum, D.Smart gave us one as a house-warming gift. What a wonderful way to start a Friendship Garden.
They have pretty little flower clumps – a 2nd season for interest. That’s another plus.
photo by SVSeekins
They even have edible fruit! Well, it’s not tasty, but it is edible. And dangling strawberry-like fruit hanging from a shrub is funky – a 3rd season of interest.
That’s 3 plus signs! They seemed a perfect choice for my shrub border.
They’d give the yard some privacy from the street.
They wouldn’t be too tall to interfere with utility lines overhead.
I had to have one! Okay, 3 – because they’re so cool.
It turns out the deer think strawberry trees are cool, too. And delicious.
photo by SVSeekins
For the bushes to survive & grow to any height, I resorted to protecting them with stucco wire. It’s worked well. Instead of being deer pruned, knee height, struggling little bushes, they’ve grown over my head in just a couple of years.
I think they’re kind of pretty. And the dangling strawberries are definitely funky. But the ‘protective custody’ sort of ruins the ‘nature at its finest’ vibe.
photo by SVSeekins
I removed the wire protection from the 3rd tree this summer. An experiment.
My guess is that the deer can only reach so high while they’re helping out with the pruning.
Now the experiment continues with crossed fingers. Hopefully, the deer will leave some of the lower branches through the winter. Otherwise, this strawberry tree might end up being shaped a little less like a shrub, and a little more like a tree.
Recently a hummingbird visited the garden. Yup. November in Victoria & still the hummingbirds hang out. Here is one of the reasons why:
photo by SVSeekins
Hardy Fuchsia is one of my fall favorites. I like that the deer seem to leave it alone. And I really like to see something blooming so late in the season.
There are 4 decent sized Hardy Fuchsia in our garden to keep the hummers fed through the fall. Most years the shrub blooms straight through Christmas. Then our winter cold kicks in and it dies back fairly quickly.
photo by SVSeekins
Luckily for the hummingbirds, that’s when other bloomers like snowdrops, cyclamen and hellebore show up to pick up the slack.
Occasionally, when I really feel the urge for a tidy garden, I trim the tired shrub back right to the ground. It’s always come back in the spring, and seems to easily reach mature height & be blooming again by July.
photo by SVSeekins
Some years I don’t bother to trim it back, but you decide. Here’s a comparison shot from one spring when it wasn’t trimmed back. Which do you prefer?
I’m still undecided.
photo by SVSeekins
If it’s trimmed back, it’s tidy & my attention goes to the spring blooming Pacific Bleeding Heart that’s spread so nicely around its base.
If it isn’t trimmed back, it looks a little shabby, but nicely fills that air between the 2 clumps of cedars. Please weigh in on this one & let me know if I should bother trimming this winter?
Garden Variety Life 