Add Color and Fragrance to Your Garden with the Korean Spice Viburnum

One Shrub Perfumes the Entire Neighborhood

There are two things that are essential in every spring garden - color and fragrance. As the cold days of winter become the warm days of spring, there is nothing better than looking at a garden of budding color or walking by a fragrant plant. This week we are featuring a shrub that will add both color and fragrance to your spring garden - Korean Spice Viburnum.

In early spring, Korean Spice Viburnum will be literally covered in deep pink buds that open slowly into clusters of white, waxy flowers. It is these flowers that emit the complex spicy, sweet fragrance that makes this shrub irresistible. One shrub is enough to perfume the entire neighborhood for weeks with the richest, most delightful fragrance imaginable. The white flowers are replaced in the summer by red fruit that will fade to a black-blue in the fall. The green foliage will turn to a bright red and then deep burgundy in autumn. Through the years, hybrids of the Korean Spice Viburnum have been developed; but for rich fragrance, we still like the original. As with so many plants, some of the fragrance seems to have disappeared in the hybridization process.

Korean Spice Viburnum is truly a fool-proof shrub that is not only easy to care for, but also versatile as it will perform well in partial shade. It will reach six to eight feet and has spreading branches that will expand to about the same width. Ideal for screening in a large mixed shrub border, planted near a path or entryway or near a window to let in the fragrance.

Planting and Care

  • Choose a site with good drainage in full sun to light shade.

  • For best results, plant in early spring or fall.

  • Water regularly until established.

  • Fertilize with Plant-Tone in late autumn and very early spring.

  • Zones 5-7.

    • Click here to view Korean Spice Viburnum on the Carroll Gardens website.

    Alan Summers, president of Carroll Gardens, Inc., has over 30 years experience in gardening and landscape design. He has made Carroll Gardens one of America