Common Name: Chinese viburnum
Type: Broadleaf evergreen
Family: Adoxaceae
Native Range: China, Taiwan
Zone: 7 to 9
Height: 6.00 to 8.00 feet
Spread: 6.00 to 8.00 feet
Bloom Time: May
Bloom Description: Greenish-white
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Medium
Suggested Use: Hedge
Flower: Showy
Leaf: Evergreen
Attracts: Birds
Fruit: Showy
Other: Winter Interest
Culture
Winter hardy to USDA Zone 7 where it is easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Plants generally appreciate some afternoon shade in hot summer climates. If grown in St. Louis (USDA Zone 6), it should be sited in a protected growing area and given a good winter much. Best growth usually occurs with consistent and even moisture. This is an evergreen shrub, but it tends to be semi-evergreen to deciduous near the far northern edge of its growing range.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Viburnum propinquum, sometimes commonly called Chinese evergreen viburnum, is a compact, bushy, rounded, evergreen shrub that typically grows in a mound to 6-8' tall and as wide. It is native to forest areas in central and western China. Small greenish-white flowers in showy rounded clusters (umbel-like cymes to 2-3" wide) bloom in late spring. Flowers are followed by small, glossy, egg-shaped fruits that mature to blue-black in fall. Fruits are attractive to birds. Reddish-brown new growth branchlets turn gray after the first year. Glossy, leathery, 3-veined, opposite, elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, deep green leaves (to 3 1/2" long) are evergreen, but acquire burgundy tones in fall-winter.
Genus name comes from the Latin name of a species plant.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Leaf scorch may occur in hot full sun locations.
Uses
Compact broadleaf evergreen shrub for informal hedges, foundations, borders or open woodland areas. Spring flowers, fall fruit and evergreen foliage make this an interesting and attractive landscape shrub.