Spice Girl Koreanspice Viburnum
Best low-maintenance shrub for gardeners seeking fragrant blooms and deer resistance.
The Spice Girl® Koreanspice viburnum is a versatile shrub offering multi-season garden interest. In spring, it produces hundreds of highly fragrant, sweet pink blooms that fill the landscape with a spicy-sweet scent. Its green foliage transitions to a rich red hue in the fall, providing a colorful display. This variety is noted for its shade tolerance and deer resistance, making it an excellent choice for hedges or as a landscape specimen. It matures to about 7 feet tall and wide, thriving in zones 4 through 8 with minimal maintenance required.
$23.99
Owner Satisfaction
4.6
/ 5
Category Rank
866
/ 2688
#866 in Bushes & Shrubs
Price vs Category Average
-39%
Below average
Botanical name
Viburnum carlesii 'Spiro'
/ Viburnum carlesii 'Spiro'
Who it's for
- Gardeners seeking a fragrant, sensory-rich spring landscape
- Homeowners wanting multi-seasonal color and visual interest
- Busy gardeners preferring low-maintenance, resilient landscape plants
Who should skip it
- Impatient gardeners looking for immediate, full-sized privacy screening
- Gardeners in regions prone to Viburnum Leaf Beetle infestations
- Landscapers requiring year-round evergreen privacy or winter structure
Performance breakdown
Fragrance Intensity
Sweet, spicy blooms provide an unmatched sensory experience in spring gardens.
Seasonal Versatility
Delivers consistent visual appeal from spring flowers to vibrant autumn foliage.
Maintenance Requirements
A low-effort shrub that thrives with minimal pruning and routine care.
Wildlife Resilience
Reliably deer-resistant, keeping your landscape intact without constant protective measures.
Environmental Adaptability
Handles partial shade well while maintaining a healthy, robust growth habit.
Pollinator Attraction
Actively supports local ecosystems by drawing beneficial insects to the yard.
Key Specs
Botanical name
Viburnum carlesii 'Spiro'
Patent #
USPP 24,251
USDA Hardiness Zones
4 - 8
Mature Height
7 ft
Mature Width
7 ft
Bloom Season
Spring
Evergreen/Deciduous
Deciduous
Watering Needs
Moderate
Features
- Highly fragrant spring blooms
- Stunning red fall foliage
- Provides multi-season interest
- Deer resistant
- Tolerates partial shade
- Attracts pollinators
- Blooms on old wood
What customers say
Customers overwhelmingly praise the Spice Girl Viburnum for its exceptional, early spring fragrance. Reviewers consistently describe the spicy clove scent as intoxicating, noting it carries a significant distance, making it ideal for patios or entryways. The plant is highly valued for its reliable hardiness and compact, rounded habit, fitting well into smaller garden spaces. Its early bloom time offers much needed color when few other plants are active. While initial growth can be slow, the long term payoff in fragrance and form is considered well worth the wait. This shrub is celebrated as a premium, high impact specimen delivering reliable performance for fragrance enthusiasts.
Know before you buy
These blooms are exceptionally fragrant, producing a strong, spicy-sweet scent that can easily fill a garden space during the spring bloom season.
While it performs best in full sun, this variety is notably shade-tolerant and will bloom reliably even in partial sun conditions.
Because this shrub blooms on old wood, you should prune it immediately after the flowers fade in late spring. Pruning later in the season may remove the buds for the following year.
Yes, it is considered deer-resistant, making it a reliable choice for landscapes where deer pressure is a concern. However, no plant is entirely deer-proof if food sources are scarce.
Since this shrub matures to about 7 feet wide, you should space them at least 7 feet apart on center if you want individual specimens, or slightly closer if you prefer the branches to overlap for a dense hedge.
Yes, the green summer foliage transitions into a vibrant, rich red hue in the fall, offering excellent multi-season interest for your garden.
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$24