Viburnum Kilamandjaro® Sunrise

RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year 2015

Viburnum Kilamandjaro® Sunrise is a flowering deciduous shrub offering 3 seasons of interest, blooming in late spring to early summer, but it may sporadically bloom throughout the growing season. Kilamandjaro Sunrise has a beautiful multi-stemmed architecture of tiered, horizontal branching, giving it a lovely layered and medium-textured appearance. Borne all along the branches, flat-topped, lacecap-like white flower clusters blush pink and appear "doublefile," with one on each side of a node. Large, well-developed, glossy red fruits follow the flowers in midsummer, providing sustenance for birds. And in fall, the foliage turns fiery red.

A Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum species, commonly called snowball bush or doublefile viburnum, Kilamandjaro Sunrise has an average rate of growth and a dense, distinct habit that is more upright and conical than the species. It's a spectacular specimen but is shown to best effect massed or grouped in beds, borders, or foundation plantings. And it makes a great hedge or privacy screen.

Cold hardy and easy care, doublefile viburnum grows best in sunny to partly sunny locations with moderately fertile, moist, well-draining soils, but it adapts to most soils, except very wet ones. Best flowering and fall color occurs with a minimum of 4 to 6 hours of sun a day. Only mature plants should be pruned, and any desired pruning should be done in summer immediately after flowering.