A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Snowball Bush varieties

I am interested in planting a snowball bush that has spherical/globe shaped flowers and blooms in late summer July/August. Four years ago I purchased a bush that was not what I wanted. The bush I have blooms around May and the flowers are basically flat or slightly curved. Can anyone help me with the correct variety or cultivar of snowball bush? When I read on the subject I found viburnum opulus roseum but that blooms in May and viburum opulus 'sterile' which blooms in summer. In some literature the roseum and 'sterile' were used for the same plant. I live in the Nashville Tennessee area, zone 6b.
Thanks for you help!

WCutler,
Hi! Hope I can help. I think the Viburnum you are looking for is the Viburnum macrocephalum. It grows 6-10 feet tall. Although mine are around 12 feet. Viburnum opulus is the European cranberry bush. It has the lace cap type blooms.

Gardencrazy

I found a whole list of viburnums at:

viburnum

At our old house we had one that bloomed in the summer with a wonderful scent that filled the garden.

At this house we have viburnum opulus roseum 'sterile' the flowers start green in early spring and then change to white. That green is one of my favorite colors.

I saw a picture of the one you mention . Those are beautiful. It says zone 7-10 is that right?

I can get this one locally. EASTERN SNOWBALL
Viburnum opulus 'Sterile'
The nursery has plants from Monrovia which has a great website monrovia.com. They say it is cold hardy to zone 3 and zone 8 for heat. The flowering time is only listed as Summer. How late does your variety bloom? Are the blooms round? I will try to attach a pic from the site I mentioned. Thanks for everyone's help!

[img]http://www.monrovia.com/PlantInf.nsf/269905a1fb059eb48825683c0080938a/ad60d8daa327a3c98825684d00726803!OpenDocument&Highlight=0,viburnum&Click=042f18e31a76addd88256966006aa4b7/$Body/1.4106[/img]

Maybe this will work

web page

rue anemone,
They are pretty. I am not sure about the zone 7 because I am in zone 6 and they do great here. They are a show stopper when they bloom and mine have more like a sweet smell. I really don't know how to discribe it. Here is a link to a picture of mine.

my snow balls

WCutler,
I don't really know much about the Viburnum opulus. Mine start setting the flowers around May then by June they start opening more. The picture of mine was taken in June. They seem to keep the flowers on them until the end of July into August. They get bigger as time goes on. The branches will lay on the ground they get so heavy with flowers. I did find a site that has them if this helps.


web page

Gardencrazy

Gardencrazy,
Those bushes are awesome!!!
I can not believe the size of those!!!
Unbelievable!!

Weezie

That monrovia site is cool. I have seen their plants at garden centers around here, they are always very nice.

I have never purchased one though because I am too CHEAP!!

Gardencrazy WONDERFUL!!

I find it interesting that the green stage of the flowers is very seldom mentioned in descriptions. I said before that is my favorite color!!

Weezie,
They are huge! They were here when we bought the house but the lady who planted them kept really good records of her plants. She planted them in 1978. So they have been growing a long time.

rue anemone,
The green is beautiful when they start. Green is my favorite color too. Monrovia does have really nice plants but I too am to cheap.

Gardencrazy

Gardencrazy, that is the snowball I am looking for. Thanks for sharing that with me. It is a wonderful plant. I want to get one this spring but I may wait until I can see them in bloom before I buy one, since I have made one mistake already getting the wrong plant. Thanks