Plant of the month - March

Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Charles Lamont’

Family: Adoxaceae           Origin: Garden              Accession: 1974

find it at the end of the rose garden 

Viburnum x bodnantense is the result of a cross between V. farreri  and V. grandiflorum. The cross was originally made by Charles Lamont, Assistant Curator at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh in 1933, but was not widely propagated until 1935 when the same cross was made at Bodnant, hence the name of the hybrid. ‘Dawn’ was the first named form, and ‘Charles Lamont’ was subsequently named as one of the original seedlings raised at Edinburgh.

A medium to large deciduous shrub, it has a strong upright habit when young, later arching outwards gracefully. Ample clusters of exquisitely fragrant, rose-tinted flowers are produced in winter, before the leaves appear in spring. The foliage also turns an attractive bronze in autumn.

Originally thought to belong to the family Caprifoliaceae, recent studies using DNA sequencing have shown Viburnum to be a member of the family Adoxaceae.