Viburnum Eskimo
Viburnum Eskimo in our Courtyard
The most striking of the Viburnums in our garden is Viburnum Eskimo. I have to add, only when in bloom!
The flower buds started to appear in mid Winter and opened fully in early May. I have never seen a Viburnum quite like this one.
This is the second season for Eskimo in this border, flowering very freely with snowball blooms which give the small shrub an artificial appearance. The flowers are lightly scented.
Viburnum erubescens Eskimo is semi-evergreen, and yes it did hang on to some of the leaves in Winter. Although quite stunning when in flower, the rest of the year in our garden it was sparse in leaf and twiggy looking.
Verdict ! For the show it gives in April/May its going nowhere.
Fully evergreen Viburnum Tinus
Plant details for Viburnum Eskimo
This compact shrub is semi evergreen with an abundance of flowers in Spring.
Hardiness
Fully hardy in the UK
Height and width
This slow growing shrub in the UK will likely take ten years to grow to a height of 5ft/152cm, with a similar width
Leaves and flowers
The small ovate semi evergreen leaves are nothing to write home about. On the other hand the blooms are something else. Snowy white, lightly scented and covering the shrub in late April and May
Position and soil
Position your Viburnum in full sun or a lightly shaded spot in the garden. Soil should be moist and free draining acidic /neutral. The compact habit of Eskimo makes it ideal for pot growing, mix equal parts of garden soil with a good quality garden compost. Keep well watered especially in those hot Summer days.
Pruning
This compact shrub is unlikely to require pruning for several years. If you do want to prune out any wayward branches or to keep the height restricted, prune as soon as the flowers go over.
Awards
RHS award of garden merit
Yesterday morning I decided to plant a (tree Prunus autumnalis rosea) in the position where Viburnum Eskimo was. Whilst potting up the viburnum I noticed that after eighteen months the shrub had made no new root growth. The root ball had been covered in a tight netting which I had not noticed when planting. I removed the netting and potted it up, perhaps this explains the miserable review I have given on the foliage of this shrub. I will add an update for Viburnum erubescens Eskimo at some point.
The garden in early December, as expected is looking rather weary. Still no snow or frost as yet, but the wind chill at times makes it feel below zero.
Thank you, Deborah, I also wish you all the best for this year, and will catch up with what’s going on once I get myself motivated.
Hi Alistair, Happy gardening in 2019! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season, and I look forward to reading your posts this year. Deb
Your viburnum looks amazing, but as I see it is young. In my garden I have a big one, it is quite old but still beautiful. Every year there are so many flowers! However, it is amazing that you managed to grow it in UK, because conditions here, as you said, are hard. Last year my mother also ordered a few other plants on https://gardenseedsmarket.com/garden-flowers-en/ , but every in white color..It looked amazing! If I could show you some photos, for sure you would admit!
Thank you, Nadezda I send the same wishes to you and yours.
A merry Christmas, dear Alistair !
I wish you joyful holiday with your family and friends, health and happiness.
They almost look like hydrangeas!! We love this selection of viburnums: https://myperfectplants.com/product-category/shrubs-hedges/viburnum/
Thanks for confirming this Pam
This anonymous comment was a mistake Alistair. I don’t know if it was something I did wrong. Thank you for following it up and contacting me. P. x
Hi Debs, Snowball does indeed look very much like Eskimo. Fortunately, the issue with your url does not affect the ability to find your site for those who know your blog address. I am going to try and add you to my list using a simple url link rather than the RSS feed.
It is a beautiful viburnum. I own several types of viburnum, and yours reminds me of my Viburnum opulus, or Snowball viburnum, though my Snowball is much, much larger, almost the size of a small tree. I wonder if Eskimo is a dwarf cousin?
Also, a few weeks ago you wrote me about a lack of secure message on my URL. Unfortunately, although Squarespace assures me my blog is quite secure, my older, out-of-date platform does not include messaging to that effect. I can’t get that without an upgrade, which would cost more money and would require a major overhaul of my entire blog, with features I don’t want or need. Bummer!
Clematis growing through Viburnum is a good idea Sunil, in fact, I have done that with Tinus. Amazing flowers at this time of year? Those pictures were taken in early May.
Hello Alistair, those flowers are amazing for this time of year. I was thinking that if the shrub looks twiggy for the rest of the year, it’s probably good to have a clematis growing up it, which you can then cut back to the ground to have the Viburnum flowers show through.
never boring Alistair, 🙂
Hello Frances, thanks for taking the time to look at my wee slideshow. Every time I publish a post I wonder as to how boring it is. Mind you it still fascinates me that I am able to do this. The day after publishing the post was freezing and the water in the birdbath was frozen solid.
hello Alistair,
your garden has quite a lot of green still in December and that is a lovely photo of a robin on your fence, I enjoyed your little slide show, just the right length, some people make long slide shows and then I start to get bored and usually leave without commenting,
viburnum eskimo is beautiful in bloom, you seem to have other interesting plants nearby so the bareness of the viburnum leaves room to enjoy the other plants, or you could sow a few sweetpeas to climb through it and flower later in the year,
I hope you are still frost free, we have had a little and yesterday it was -3C in the morning, quite unusual for the outer islands,
Frances
I love viburnum. I have only one: Viburnum ‘Mariesii’. I agree that it looks bad for all of the year except June — but it’s worth it! P. x
We had our first hard frost yesterday Nadezda.
Never mind Alistair .. I found out (through Rab C. Nesbitt ) what the Glasgow Kiss is .. too funny !
Now you know you have to tell me what that Glasgow kiss is .. if it is anything like a resounding raspberry ? LOL
This viburnum is so pretty and evergreen, that’s wonderful. I have one viburnum grown as a shrub but it drops leaves in winter. Love these big flower heads, Alistair. I also like your slide show, I see your garden is partly green till now.
Thanks for your comment Joy. I only know it was a Scottish Robin because it was giving a rival a Glasgow kiss. You won’t have a clue what I am talking about.
Thank you, Frances, do let me know if it is accepted.
Gorgeous! Our garden club maintains the White Garden at our local botanical garden, Nathanael Greene Park/Close Memorial Park. I will forward your blog post to our White Garden committee chair for their consideration. Thank you!
I am in love with this viburnum ! I don’t think I have run across it before .. those flower heads are gorgeous when plants with flowers have retreated later in the year (other than our hydrangeas right ? ) .. I think in fact (after removing that netting) that you will see an even more profuse show of flowers next cycle, as well as better foliage .. I can well imagine the netting was detrimental to it’s capability to truly shine in your garden. I wish it was a bit sturdier than zone 6 .. although I have gotten away with plants in that zone in my back gardens.
Too funny … yes … your correction of it being a Scottish robin, Alistair ! LOL
They are smaller and cuter looking than our larger robust North American robins .. who take over the garden at times 🙂
Scottish Robin Linda.
Love the English robin.
white flowers look so beautiful. love them all.
greeting- evi erlinda