The American Society of Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG) has announced its 2024 Cut Flowers of the Year. Chosen by the group’s 1600 members, the criteria for the awards are the varieties’ ease of culture, productivity, and marketability.
Recipient of the 2024 Woody Cut of the Year, Proven Winners® ColorChoice® Brandywine™ Viburnum Nudum, shares the honor with Fresh Cut Flower of the Year, Snapdragon ‘Potomac Appleblossom,’ Bulb Cut Flower of the Year, Daffodil ‘Cheerfulness,’ and Cut Foliage of the Year, Thornless raspberry ‘Joan J.’
Brandywine is a highly ornamental Witherod viburnum. Starting in late spring, it bears clusters of foamy white flowers, and handsome, glossy green foliage carries it through summer. Late in August, the green berries turn ivory, then vivid pink, then blue. Each berry cluster often displays all three colors simultaneously for a truly memorable effect. As the berries change color, so does the foliage, taking on a vivid red that makes the berries seem even more colorful.
One member-grower summarized: “I love the full seasonality of the Brandywine viburnum. I love the pinkish spring flowers, the leaf coloring, and the two-tone berries.”
Brandywine viburnum is a North American native species selected for its more refined, compact habit (5-6′ tall and wide, versus 10’+ in the wild) and abundant flowers and berries. It does not require a different variety to pollinate it; however, it serves to pollinate the variety ‘Winterthur,’ in which case both plants will bear abundant fruit.
One of many outstanding Proven Winners ColorChoice shrubs to earn this honor, Brandywine viburnum joins last year’s Woody Cut of the Year, Pinky Winky® panicle hydrangea, along with previous years’ winners Quick Fire and ‘Limelight’ panicle hydrangeas and Coppertina® ninebark.
