October 11, 2011---gin bottle + viburnum

The black gin bottle is back! I knew it would be. And in it now is a branch from one of my favorite shrubs, the tea viburnum (Viburnum setigerum).  It's a viburnum that looks best at the edges of woods where it can drape gracefully out into the light and display these wonderful, dangling red berries (they're equally beautiful when immature and orange). I bought at least three viburnums hoping to get this one when I discovered I already had it growing wild on my property!  Despite my protests, the power company cuts it down every 5 years or so (it sneaks out into the power easement), but so far it has come back robustly every time its been cut. I galls me when Dominion Power slashes it down, because I cut even a small branch like this one reluctantly.