Snowball Bush

By Joyce Corson
Guest Columnist

SYRACUSE — Can’t get enough of the gorgeous snowball bush? A winter without snow makes us remember especially the snow sculptures everyone created to adorn the winter landscapes. Where I grew up in Kirkland Township, every farm had a Snowball Bush. A quick trip there is the best way to know how beautiful they are.

Joyce Arleen Corson

This viburnum Snowball Bush opens white flowers in mid-spring. The blossoms are 2-3 inches across and fade from white to pink as they age. Fall leaf color features shades of burgundy and purplish red.

Because the blooms are sterile, this viburnum does not produce fruit. And while many viburnums are fragrant, Chinese snowball isn’t — a bonus for those with sensitive noses. Once flowering is done, this dense, vase-shaped shrub blends into the background, allowing other plants to steal the show.

Get bigger and you can easily satisfy your desires because seven different viburnum shrubs go by the name snowball bush. European Snowball Bush, also known as viburnum opulus ‘Roseum,’ is probably one of the most common.

Other favorites include Japanese Snowball Bush, typically listed as viburnum plicatum, and fragrant Snowball Bush viburnum carlcephalum. Chinese snowball bush viburnum macrocephalum is another classic, as is the grandflowering Snowball Bush viburnum plicatum ‘Grandiflorum.’

Japanese Snowball viburnum has, as the name suggests, a connection to Japan. That’s the first place this snowball viburnum bush was spotted in a garden setting.

Botanically, Japanese Snowball viburnum is known as viburnum plicatum. The species name for Japanese Snowball viburnum, “plicatum,” means pleated or folded, which describes the leaves on this beauty. The leaves are strongly veined and have an almost ruffled appearance. During the growing season, snowball bush viburnum has green leaves that provide a beautiful backdrop to the spring flower show.

Sometimes it’s listed as v opulus ‘Sterile,’ which is commonly called Eastern Snowball viburnum. European Snowball Bush blooms in spring opening flower clusters that are 3 inches across. The flowers start apple green and age to white. This is one of the oldest recorded viburnums, dating to the 16th century, when it was called “sambucus rose.”

Viburnum Carlcephalum adds a sweet perfume to beautiful snowball bush flowers. It’s known as fragrant snowball bush and opens its blossoms toward late spring. The blooms start as pink buds that unfurl to reveal blush pink white flowers. Individual flower globes measure 5 inches across and are made of up to 100 individual blossoms. The scent is rich and pervasive with carnation clove overtones.

If you know you want this plant, one way to make sure it’s the flower form you want is by buying it in bloom.