Viburnums Special Plants

We fell that viburnums are special plants They are attractive, versatile, adaptable shrubs for any garden. They can serve as hedges or screens and in mixed perennial and shrub borders. We like them most as specimen plants. They usually in the form of shrubs, but can become small ornamental trees(sieboldi). They range in size from the small Dwarf American Cranberry at 2 feet tall by 2 feet wide, to the Siebold at over 15 feet tall.

Viburnums are plants with year round interest. Viburnums have white to pink flowers in the spring. Some are fragrant. They have large, attractive and often textured leaves. Some viburnums have wonderfully fragrant flowers that are produced in snowball like clusters in the spring. The flower clusters can be of pink buds, which develop into white flowers. Some fruits are red and turn black with age. Leaves are glossy, dark green and turn a burgundy color in the fall. Midsummer berries are an important food source for birds. Viburnums are a must for the avid birder. Viburnums can have colorful red to purple leaves. Some viburnums can become medium-size trees, especially if they are pruned. Viburnums are specimen plants or as anchors in mixed borders and hedges. You won't find a more versatile group of shrubs for hedges or for massing in groups, since viburnums hold their own in every season and landscape. Some viburnums, such as Prague viburnum, are evergreen and have fragrant flowers. Others, such as leatherleaf viburnum, are semi-evergreen in colder climates, losing their leaves when temperatures dip below 10 degrees.

We like Viburnums because of their adaptability and durability. While they would prefer full sun and moderately watered, well-drained rich soils, they grow very well in part shade in alkaline, clay soils. Diseases and pests are not common for viburnums. We have more trouble from my kids running over them with brush hogs. They claim they were testing their durability. Yet all the viburnums they chopped to the ground survived. In fact, we sold these plants for a premium as they produced better numbers of desireable stems. Their fibrous root system makes them transplant and propagate easily. (We do have more difficulty with the Korean Spice rooted cuttings.)

If you are shopping for a sharp hardy shrub consider one of the many cultivars of the Viburnum family. In fact select a couple of them. You will be rewarded with shrubs with all season interest.

Viburnums have long been popular garden plants, celebrated for their white, often fragrant spring flowers and their fall color. But it's the Asian viburnums that are prized. Perhaps the most widely known viburnums are the Burkwood viburnum (Viburnum x burkwoodii), and the Korean spice viburnum (V. carlesii), both of which fill the air with an enchanting clovelike aroma in mid-spring. (The Mohican is a cross of the two.) Also popular is the doublefile viburnum (V. plicatum f. tomentosum), valued for its layered habit, fall foliage, and clusters of red fruits, and its close relative the Shasta, a gold medal winner. Viburnum acerifolium (Maple-leafed viburnum) Although I wouldn't garden without any of these, I have a special fondness for native viburnums. They may not provide the flower fragrance of their Asian counterparts, but I love them for their fall foliage color and for their fruit displays, which attract birds to my garden in the fall and winter months. In addition, several are useful to waterwise gardeners or in urban conditions. They require only corrective pruning, and none commonly suffer from pests or diseases.

Viburnums are considered moist woodland plants. In nature they are found along steam banks from Long Island to Florida. When you come to our 5275 West Swamp Rd. location ask us to show some in their native habitat that we found along our stream bank. These plants perform well under normal landscape conditions. I especially like the floral display in the spring and these viburnums that bear fruit in the fall. Winterthur has great red leaves and abundant fruit in the fall. This cultivar needs a cross pollinator such as viburnum nudum.

Native Americans used Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum) for arrow shafts. The stems are long and strait. This plant will grow in places many plants struggle. So if you have had trouble with plants in a harsh location try this cultivar.
Viburnums
We raise over 10 types of Viburnums on our farms from seedlings to 5' shrubs. If you have poor soils due to compacting from construction, try viburnums. Being rugged and hardy, they perform where other plants fail.
American Cranberry Bush
KoreanSpice
Blackhaw
ArrowwoodViburnum
Chicago Luster (we have 500 3-6' that must be sold by Sept 28 2005)
Dawn
Summer Snowflake
Shasta
Winterthur
Blue Muffin
Burkwood
Erie
Tea
Judd
Korean Spice
Praque
Siebold

Specials Must Sell!!!Land is sold

In the Tyrolean Alps, okay, the southern "Alps Mountains" includes a region named Tyrol, a glacier-preserved 5,300-year old "ice-mummy" was found in 1991. This prehistoric man was preserved better than any other specimen ever found. What an incredible discovery. He was just lying there in the snow of the Hauslabjoch Pass on a warm September day when two hiking tourists saw his head. He had a bow of Evergreen Yew wood and arrows with shafts of Rosewood. There was even a stone arrowhead of flint, the hardened dark quartz, an axehead, and what seemed to be a medicine kit in a box of wood from a Birch tree. Birch is a popular landscaping tree with many varieties. How 'bout that, all these trees which are mentioned, we sell at Highland Hill Farm!

Where we invite our customers to explore for Indian artifacts, hunt, fish, camp, etc., maybe you can get lucky too. We have 5 properties, totalling 1100 acres, near the town of Milan, Pa, on the western side of Susquehanna River in rural Bradford County. From Highland Hill Farm it is about a two-hour drive if you'll please obey the speed limits. America's prehistoric residents and later Native American Indians used straight branches from Arrowwood Viburnums, as the name implies, to make their arrows' shafts. Did you ever wonder at what point in their growth the outside of thin tree boughs and twigs develop bark and become wood? When do little seedling's stems, their "mini-trunks," grow up enough to develop bark and become wood? How thick does a green wispy thin twig have to become before it's a branch of wood? The answer is, generally, at about a half-inch diameter. In fact, that is just about the diameter of the Alpine Iceman's arrows.

The greatest find since the discovery of the Neanderthal Neandertal) Man and the Cro-Magnon Man in France was barely a few feet over the Italian side of the border with Austria resting at an altitude of 10,500 feet. A total of four books, two books popular enough to become paperbacks, have since been written about "Oetzi," or "Otzi," as the ice-mummy has been named. Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man Found in an Alpine Glacier, by Brenda Fowler, was published in 2000. The Man in the Ice was published in 1995, by Konrad Spindler, the local archaeologist brought in when it became obvious a modern-day murder victim hadn't been found. His book was updated in 2001. Two children's books have also been published to help develop their interest in historical science as something they'll find "current," and not "boring." The intense study of the "ice-mummy" yielding all the detailed information for these books was performed at Innsbruck University, and the body is now on display at the museum in Bolzano, Italy.

Do you see it? The point here is that when you plant trees and shrubs you aren't just creating aesthetics, adding beauty, as implied by "ornamental" in so many of the names. You aren't just adding a wind break or privacy screen. You are, in fact, giving your property additional natural resources.

After all the hours spent on this, and the !%^&@$*%#! Are/but/a/vitae, I need a break. Above all remember that Viburnums are special plants!!!

On our farms we raise and sell nursery stock from seedlings to large caliber trees. We also offer infomation on the web ABOUT SEEDLINGS , and how to CARE for seedlings and nursery stock. If you buy your seedling from us you will have access to the free use of our planters.We have three types available for use and have had years of experience in planting seedlings. Our PLANTING EQUIPTMENT is located in Doylestown and Milan Pa. We are dedicated to helping you with your plant needs. You will find ARTICLES we have written to help you and explain how we do what we do. We will be glad to assist you. We welcome everyone to come to our farm, if we have time we will give you a tour and show you how we built up our nursery. There are no trade secrets to our operation and we feel that in helping you we will become sharper ourselves. Our phone number is 215 651 8329.