April and May are prime times to see Viburnums in bloom. The UT Arboretum Society has recently enhanced the Arboretum's Viburnum collection with 67 new plants including 20 species and 38 forms. These are planted along Valley Road between the gate and the Dwarf and Unusual Conifer Collection. As these shrubs develop, they will provide a beautiful spring display and provide visitors an opportunity to observe some of the diversity available with these popular landscape plants.

Two examples of our established Viburnums were in bloom near the Visitors Center towards the end of April and beginning of May.

Leatherleaf Viburnum (Viburnum rhytidophyllum) is one of the earliest shrubs to bloom in the spring. Its opposite, evergreen leaves are dark green and have a leathery texture. The fragrant, creamy white flowers are borne in dense terminal clusters (cymes). The fruits are initially red, but become black as they mature. The shrubs sucker readily and grow to heights of 15 ft or more.

Two Chinese Snowball Bush Viburnums (Viburnum macrocephalum) near the front of the Visitors Center have brilliant, globose clusters of sterile, white flowers that are a beautiful lime green when they first emerge. This species is a native of China, and the sterile form is only known from cultivation; the wild form has both sterile and fertile flowers. It grows to heights of 12-20 ft.

Viburnums were historically classified by botanists as belonging to the Caprifoliaceae (the Honeysuckle family), but recent morphological and biochemical studies have caused them to be reclassified to the Adoxaceae, a family which also includes Elderberries (Sambucus).

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