A perfect pAiring

Viburnum x bodnantense is a hybrid between two viburnums brought together in the UK in the last century. One parent was the beautiful, winter-flowering V. farreri, discovered by plant collectors Reginald Farrer and William Purdom in Kansu, North West China, in 1914. They collected seeds, and the first flowers of the seedlings probably opened in the UK at Veitch’s Coombe Wood nursery in Surrey. Farrer was greatly impressed by the plant and wrote that it was the “most glorious of shrubs”. The plants he found were 10ft (3m) in height, absolutely hardy and able to withstand cold weather. This is still considered a valuable shrub, with an elegant habit. The other parent was Viburnum grandiflorum. This Western Chinese species was introduced in the same year as V. farreri, but from Bhutan. It is very similar and just as hardy, but the flowers are not as weather-resistant. The slender flowers are usually pink, fading to white as they age. It has a more angular habit of growth, with the branches growing at right angles to each other. The two plants were first crossed in 1933 by Charles Lamont, assistant curator at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. He was not impressed by the first four offspring, and they were left to languish for years, unnoticed. It was only in the 1960s that they were introduced as ‘Charles Lamont’ by nurseryman Rowland Jackman. Meanwhile, another hybrid was created in 1933 at Bodnant in North Wales. One seedling was selected as exceptional and named ‘Dawn’. The cross was repeated again by the Notcutts Nursery in Suffolk in the 1960s. One of these seedlings was named ‘Deben’ after the local river.