Viburnum Popcorn

Viburnum Popcorn Shrubs for Sale Online

Viburnum Popcorn is an attractive, rounded, deciduous shrub with bright green foliage and smothered in plentiful clusters of brilliant white flowers from late spring into early summer. A fabulous plant for the garden as it is also very drought-tolerant and is great for butterflies and other pollinators.

Unrivaled Purple-red to dark maroon fall color. Blackish red fruits in late fall and winter. Grows well in sun to partial shade and any moist soil.

On numerous occasions, plants developed in the United States travel to Europe, attaining pedigreed status with a subsequent reintroduction to American gardeners. Such was the case with Viburnum Popcorn. The origin has been traced to the late David G. Leach who bred and introduced many superior rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias, and flowering shrubs. Mr. Leach's legacy continues at the 30-acre David G. Leach Research Station, a satellite of the Holden Arboretum in Madison, Ohio.

According to Stephen Krebs, director of the station, the specifics were graciously provided. Viburnum Popcorn was a chance seedling that resulted from a seed given to David Leach by Henry Gleason of Madison, Ohio, in 1982. Viburnum Popcorn was introduced into commerce in 1994 through Herman Losely & Son Nursery in Perry, Ohio.

The original Viburnum Popcorn was 18 feet high and 21 feet wide after 24 years. Stephen Krebs describes Viburnum Popcorn as having "real flower power, for after peak bloom, a heavy rain knocked most of the flowers off and we were standing ankle-deep in petals." He also noted that it is not fully sterile and the fruit set is sparse. Based his my experience with so-termed sterile-flowered plants, the seeds that develop often result in sterile or double, and showier-flowered seedlings.