January Plant of the Month
An evergreen shrub I planted as a new gardener in my first garden. I kept it for a few years then couldn’t stand the shabby foliage any longer as Viburnum beetle chomped its way through the leaves. After all, it’s good foliage you want in the depths of winter.
However, with this viburnum, there are also the pretty flower heads which emerge in December and keep going well into the spring. Flattened clusters of deep pink buds open to small, starry white-pink flowers. Deep metallic-blue berries follow on. I’ve given it a chance again in a couple of gardens and so far, so good. No unsightly leaves and pretty flowers in winter.
Viburnum ‘Eve Price’ also responds well to hard-pruning, so it can be kept as a hedge or a clipped specimen plant. It can grow to about 2m tall and wide, but don’t let it. Prune it!
