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viburnum cinnamomifolium or pragense?

mayland
14 years ago

Does anyone have experience with either Viburnum cinnamomifolium or Viburnum pragense?

I am looking for a larger shrub that is reliably evergreen in Atlanta, but has a fairly loose habit, not too dense. Ideally, great flowers too!

This is to go into the middle of an area that is under some tall tree cover, but is close to full sun. The area is our "orchard" and has cherry, plum and amelanchier trees, blueberry bushes, and also some more ornamental shrubs along the edge. Almost everything in it is deciduous, and we'd really like to add a showy evergreen in the middle to help screen out the view of the street beyond.

Does anyone know whether v. cinnamomifolium or pragense are truly evergreen here? I have a v. leatherleaf hybrid that i've forgotten the name of, and it barely kept its leaves this winter. The new Gardenhood nursery told me about cinnamomifolium and are going to let me know when they get more in stock (they are very nice people!), and I've seen pragense in a couple of places.

Any other suggestions for something that would fit the bill would be great. We already have a lot of wax myrtles, so perhaps not more of those. Prefer native, or at least, not invasive.

Thank you!

Comments (6)

  • Iris GW
    14 years ago

    I have pragense. It does keep it's leaves (although the deer had a great time with it this year so it has fewer leaves than usual).

    A native evergreen to consider which I just saw last night at Home Depot (3 gal, $22) - Ilex vomitoria 'Dodd's Cranberry'. It was covered in bright red berries. Shockingly so, really.
    Another idea: Prunus caroliniana 'Compacta'.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Picture of Dodd's Cranberry

  • frankielynnsie
    14 years ago

    I live in the most north east corner of the state and have Viburnum cinnamomifolium. It has been extremely hardy and low care. I have had to keep it trimmed back because it didn't have a tag and I planted it before figuring out which viburnum it was and the normal ht. is way to big for my site. It has been a fast grower. I am planning to root some for the edge of my woods. I live across from 'the white elephant house'. (It is huge, white and kind of ugly)

  • mayland
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thank you both! Its good to hear that the cinnamomifolium should stay evergreen. I think i will give it a try when I can get one. Fast-growing sounds good to me, we'd like a quick screen in that area.

    Esh, that Ilex sounds great too. I really want to add some winter berries. Last spring I planted an Ilex verticillata "Berry Nice" and it has barely grown, so no berries this year. I'll look at our HD...I would have space to plant both!

    By the way, Esh, I bought an Illicium floridanum "Semmes" from Growers Outlet last week. It looks great -- very big plant, very fragrant, and nice big almost-white flowers. Have you heard of that cultivar? My local Ace has a variegated cultivar called "Pink Frost" as well, which looks lovely...tempted to give that a try too!

  • Iris GW
    14 years ago

    Illicium floridanum "Semmes" ? That is quite a special plant! Where does Grower's outlet get all these things! Good find. I know someone here had some experience with 'Shady Lady'.

    These grow fastest in ideal conditions - if you stress them with too much sun/little water, they don't grow as quickly.

  • mayland
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I don't know where they get them! They still have some though, if you are interested! Mine is probably 5-6' tall and was only $10 (3 gal). The soil was a little dry, but hopefully it will do fine, I want to get it planted this weekend.

    I also have a Shady Lady, which I'm really pleased with so far. It is in almost complete shade and seems pretty happy. The Semmes will get a little more sun, but only in the morning so I hope it will do well too.

    I have a line of Illicium parviflorums against our property fence that I had envisioned as a nice hedge. They are really slow-growing though. Maybe I need to water them more. I was thinking of fertilizing them this spring, as they really seemed to grow hardly at all last year.

  • Iris GW
    13 years ago

    My neighbor got me a Illicium floridanum "Semmes" from Growers Outlet and brought it by today. I can't believe how big it is!! Now my friend is dying for one .... We're going to have to make a trip out there.

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