Viburnum nudum Pink Beauty

Viburnum nudum 'Pink Beauty' is a delightful variety of naked viorne, attractive almost all year round. This shrub charms with its lovely small pink then violet berries that persist long on the branches in winter, its often semi-persistent foliage with splendid autumnal colours, but also with its somewhat Japanese-like habit, supported by tiered branches. With a moderate growth, both rustic, refined and colourful, 'Pink Beauty' is also a plant easy to grow in any good garden soil not too dry.

The viburnum with pedunculate cymes, often called naked viorne, is a shrub native to China. It now belongs to the Adoxaceae family, once part of the Caprifoliaceae. The 'Pink Beauty' cultivar, bred in the USA, stands out with a compact habit, but especially with its remarkable pink and violet fruiting. This shrub will not exceed 2 m in height by 1.5 m in spread. Its overall habit is erect, but the shrub develops in tiers, through spread out secondary branches. It blooms in June-July, in the form of large flat-topped corymbs, 10 to 15 cm in diameter; they are composed of small white flowers, sometimes pinkish. This slightly fragrant flowering is very melliferous and nectariferous. The fruiting is abundant and very decorative, in clusters where many round berries of a very bright pink are closely packed with ripe berries turning violet. Its foliage, deciduous to semi-persistent depending on winter severity, consists of large elliptical leaves of a beautiful shiny dark green. They turn to red, purple-violet, and brown in autumn. 

Completely hardy, the 'Pink Beauty' naked viorne is an undemanding plant. It thrives in sunny or semi-shaded positions, and thrives in any ordinary soil rather moist, even slightly limestone. It is used as a standalone to attract attention in small gardens, in a pot on a terrace, in hedges or in borders in larger gardens. In a hedge, it can be associated with a variety of shrubs chosen for their autumn foliage (European fusain, garlic fusain, Cotinus, oakleaf hydrangea, Physocarpus), their spring flowering (mock oranges, deutzias, lilacs, Canadian serviceberry), or for their pretty fruiting (chokeberries, beautyberries, symphoricarpos, Chinese quince...). Its graceful inflorescences can be part of your spring bouquets and its fruit clusters will adorn festive tables in winter.