The viburnums comprise so many excellent shrubs from diversified environments that one can hardly begin to grow them all in one garden. Perhaps it would be better to say that a beginning should be made for every garden, for no other genus of hardy shrubs offers so much beauty and interest over such long periods.
There is scarcely a week of the year when viburnums do not furnish flowers or fruits to the garden picture, quite aside from the pleasing qualities of foliage and branching that distinguish many of the group.
Perhaps the best of these in the autumn picture is the tea viburnum, usually seen as a slender shrub 7′ or 8′ feet in height. At this time of year, its branches are arching under the weight of large clusters of brilliant red or orange berries. These fruits are roundish-ovoid and about 8” inches long. When mature, they have a translucent quality.
Ernest Wilson sent seeds of this shrub from western China in 1901, on an expedition that had been undertaken to reintroduce the famous dove tree, Davidia. Though hazardous on several counts, the expedition was most successful. Wilson described the veneration accorded the tea viburnum on sacred Mount Wad in Sichuan province, about 180 miles west of Chungking.
Buddhist Priests Make Special Sweet Tea From Dried Leaves
Along the two routes to the summit, Buddhist priests sold a special sweet tea made from the dried leaves of the viburnum to pilgrims toiling up the august heights. The wayfarers held the tea in high esteem for its reputed medicinal properties and the priests for its considerable financial contribution to their resources.
The shrub Viburnum theiferum, meaning the “tea-producing viburnum,” was introduced to garden enthusiasts and nurserymen under this name. Later it was discovered that a British botanist had described the same shrub from dried specimens sent to England several years before, and he had christened it Viburnum setigerum.
Unfortunately, botanical rules require the older name. This is particularly exasperating in this case because Itelider’s name is peculiarly fitting, while the lawful one appears misleading since setigerous usually means “bristly.”
What Do Tea Viburnums Look Like?
Tea viburnums have handsome dark green leaves, elongated ovate in outline, and are generally from 4” to 7” inches long. As in all viburnums, the leaves are in pairs with the males. Deeply impressed veins end at the margins in small pinkish teeth which are rather widely spaced. On vigorous growth, petioles and shoots often show this interesting red coloring.
The flowers are white, small individually, but in flat-topped clusters about 3” inches across and bloom from mid-to-late spring. While the flowers add to the general decorative effect, they are scarcely outstanding and certainly not in the same class for floral beauty as Charles and double-file viburnums.
By autumn, however, the story is different. The species of surpassing beauty in flowers make little if any display of berries, while the fruits of tea viburnums are nothing short of breath-taking. As the weeks go by, the richly-colored berries take on the lucent stage of brilliance which must have gladdened the weary pilgrims plodding up the endless steps of Omei-shan.
Typically, the berries are a brilliant red. The form which has orange-yellow berries is called aurantiacum. The drooping clusters are at their best in October and early November, but they persist into the new year in favorable seasons.
Soil Requirements
The soil preferences of this shrub are not different from those of its better-known relatives. Deep preparation of the site is usually very important; this should entail trenching to a depth of at least 2 3/2 feet, discarding poor soil, and replacing it with loamy, acid compost, well-rotted manure, and 4 or 5 handfuls of complete chemical fertilizer. Branches and litter may be used in the bottom third of the hole if the other materials are in short supply.
This roughage well below the roots acts as a drainage layer and a moisture reservoir. Late autumn or early winter planting is often preferable to setting out new plants in the spring, but planting any time during the dormant season is satisfactory.
The roots are thick and fibrous and fairly near the surface. Mulching generously with leaves or compost after autumn planting is important.
Preferred Location
Tea viburnums should have a generous amount of sunlight and good drainage. A location on a bank or slope frequently offers a point of vantage for featuring the display of berries. The slender. Arching growth and distinctive qualities of tea viburnums do not fit them for mass plantings.
On the other hand, they are splendidly adapted for use as individual specimens featured in a few well-considered groupings. They make a fine picture in front of spreading yews or against conifers.
As tea viburnums in most cases are not densely branched at the base, low shrubs are sometimes desirable as foreground planting.
44659 by Ben Blackburn