Onondaga, the shrub

One of the first shrubs I planted in my garden is one of my favorites. Viburnum sargentii 'Onondaga' is blooming now, and that's all I really want to say.

I might have a few comments here and there, but these photos speak for themselves I think.

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Incidentally, this is the only shrub I've ever bought through mail order. That's just a bit of trivia from my garden to you.

I have a thing for lacecap hydrangea flowers, and this is about as lacecappy as any hydrangea bloom I've seen!

More and more of the central flowers open over time...

...until they're just about all open. I don't think bees or other pollinators visit these flowers, but I could be wrong. I'll have to keep a closer eye on them this year and see if there is any insect activity. I hope there is.

I don't know why they wouldn't love these clusters of tiny, cute flowers:

Surrounded by bracts of four petals:

or is it five petals?

Wait, is it six? Six petals?

Actually, most of them have five petals, but four and six are present too.

This plant's got nice reddish foliage too, which fades to more green but keeps tinges of the red (or "purple" as some call it):

But really it's the blooms I'm interested in right now. Everybody's got leaves, but not everybody has flowers like this.

With all of these flowers, it's a shame that it doesn't form berries. At least I think it doesn't... I don't remember ever seeing any. Of course if no pollinators are visiting, that could be the problem.

Berries or not, I just love these blooms! This shrub is taller than it is wide for me, although I see it listed in some places as 6' x 6', as well as 8' x 4'. I think that second sizing is more accurate, at least with my specimen. Of course the deer pruned the sides of it when it was younger, so that may be the reason for its lack of width.

Viburnum sargentii 'Onondaga'. A beautiful, impressive plant.

For more about this wonderful shrub, see my post from last year.

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