In the garden with Nell Carr
After flowering, Viburnum opulus ‘Knotcutt’s Variety’ shows off with a spectacular display of large red berries.
Photo supplied
Viburnums
Viburnums are a numerous group of flowering shrubs and trees from America and Asia. All are frost resistant but drought tender, and so are eminently suitable for the Meander Valley. (For cold tolerance, it would be hard to beat V. cotinifolium which is native to the Himalayas.)
The reason for making them this month’s subject is that their vibrant Autumn foliage is so evident in our locality just now. Most are deciduous, but the quite common Laurustinus (V. tinus laurustinus) is an evergreen tree which grows to 3m.
Many Viburnums are sweetly scented. For example, the Korean Viburnum (V. carlesii), a shade loving small shrub, carries a delightful fragrance.
The Guelder Rose (V. opulus) has at time of writing turned a beautiful russet red. There is a striking example of this tree at the Great Western Tiers Visitor Information Centre garden in Deloraine – closed for the time being, but this one can be seen from the car park.
There are other Viburnums inside the garden, e.g. V. plicatum tomentosum, the Doublefile Viburnum, has layered branches with the white flowers lying on top of each branch.
The Chinese Snowball Bush (V. macrocephalus) bears much larger globular heads of white flowers in Spring than the Guelder Rose. Its foliage is just now turning from green to pink.
Viburnums develop berries after flowering and the most stunning of these is V. opulus ‘Knotcutt’s Variety’, with pendulous panicles of large red berries. The accompanying picture was taken in early March, and is only now losing the berries to the birds.
In the vegie garden
Seeds of onions may be sown from May onwards, but as they like well drained conditions, gardeners will be hard-pressed find a dry enough spot this year.
In this district at the Western end of the valley, March and April have been unusually wet (March 140mm, average 48mm, and up to the final week in April 129.8mm, average 66mm).
A large raised bed or box would be suitable, and the seedlings thinned out when 10 to 15cm high.
However this is a time consuming and fiddly task, so perhaps better to buy onions, available all year round and quite cheap.
Red onions are dearer, but as they are mainly used raw and thinly sliced in salads and sandwiches, only small quantities need be purchased.
