I just purchased (by mail) a Carlcephalum Fragrant Snowball Viburnum from Forestfarms.com in Oregon. This bush is supposed to grow from 5-10' tall. The flower fragrance is supposed to be a strong carnation-clove scent. The flowers are white, and the berrries will be red and black in fall. It is supposed to be a prolific bloomer.

Lorna

Hi Amy,
I have the carlcephalum that Lorna mentioned. It is similar to carlessi. Carlessi is one its parents. It has a wonderful fragrance. I don't have the best full shot of mine. Hopefully I'll get some better ones this year. Anyway, this year was its 4th or 5th spring. It originally was a gallon pot from a local nursery. The fence is 4 feet tall, so you can see it has grown pretty fast for a shrub.
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Here's a close up of some blooms.
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Remy

That sure is pretty, Remy. This is my first Vibernum. Do you think I will get blooms this year? The plant arrived yesterday in a gallon pot. It is about a foot and a half tall with leaf buds on it.
Lorna

Hi Lorna,
I'm pretty sure you won't. The flower buds are formed way ahead of time on it. Though it you get a weird year with a cold then warm spell in the fall, you may see one or two small blooms.
The first couple years I had mine, I didn't get many blooms. It has put on a better show each year, so definitely like a fine wine, improving with age.
When it does bloom, you will love the fragrance!
Remy

Thanks, Remy. I'm still deciding where to plant my new viburnum. The instructions say full sun, but full sun in New Mexico is awfully hot. I'm thinking I should plant near a wooden fence where it will get some afternoon shade. What do you think?

Lorna

Lorna,
I would think part shade down your way too. Even up here in full sun, it is a plant that likes a decent amount of water, so make sure the spot is not one that becomes bone dry in the heat of summer or make sure you water regularly if it does.

Amy,
Sorry that we hijacked your thread. Hopefully the info is good for you too though.
Remy

Remy,
I can't believe the blooms on that Little Wisteria.I've had mine for about 10 years or so and it hardly gets any blooms at all.I've threatened it every year,and one year i even followed thru on the threat and dug it out,or so i thought.Must have left a little of the root,because it came back,but it still doesn't bloom well.

At this point,i don't remember what kind it is,except the flowers it does get look just like yours.No help i know.

Thank goodness i have a Hardenbergia that i love and that blooms like crazy every year.
TFS your pictures.
Kathi

Remy, I always love info. Hopefully my wisteria will also look like yours. I have to ask a dumb question. In the pic is that whole thing one bush or is the viburnum in front of another bush. There do not appear to be blooms further on and up the plant if it is all viburnum. Amy
Thank you for the pictures your backyard looks lovely.

Kathy,
I looked up the Hardenbergia. It is a pretty plant!
Your going to hate me when I tell you about the Wisteria, lol. I bought it real cheap at Home Depot(one of my few plant purchases from there) and it is 6 years old. I did read about how wisteria likes to be root bound to bloom well, so I dug a large hole and put in good soil, but no fertilizer. I read over fertilizing slows blooming. The lawn soil is heavy clay once you get a few inches down so I knew ahead of time I was creating a bath tub effect. Normally this is not a good thing, but I took a chance that what I had read was correct.
It started blooming after 3 years. The last couple it has bloomed profusely, and it even makes a few blooms in summer.
I have been training it into a tree form. The pole it is attached to is barely visible in the photo. I got it up to the almost the top of the pole by the end of the year. Obviously I have to prune it though out the year, but it really isn't as hard to control as I thought it would be.

Amy,
Thanks!
The Viburnum is in front of a very large rose, Fantin Latour. I was still learning about taking photos at this point, well I still am!lol. But I now know to take with more of a overcast, or either very early or late in the day, for better quality photos. Because of the extreme shadows, you can't see that there is pink forget-me-nots under the viburnum either.
Remy