PlantFiles: European Cranberry Viburnum, European Snowball Bush, Guelder Rose
Viburnum opulus 'Roseum'

I aquired a snowball bush about 3 years ago on the recommendation of my local garden centre. After a few small flowers the first year it became apparent that this was an aphid magnet! It was very nearly destroyed last year. This year I dilligently treated it with Safer soap every few days and was rewarded with an astounding display of gorgeous flower clusters. Quite a bit of maintenance but well worth the glorious display.

I purchased this plant last spring 06, it is fast growing. It grew close to two feet last summer. This spring it was covered with lovely white snowballs all during May here in southeast Wisconsin. I have it planted next to my house on the east side in the shade of a silver maple and the plant is doing great! We love it!

A friend gave me a small one about 6", 2 years ago and now it is about 4' tall. My hubby LOVES it and when I trimmed it back last year, I stuck some of the limbs in the ground and now have about 5 or 6 small ones growing and 3 of them had a very tiny bloom on it already this spring and they are ready to move to a new location. SO easy to grow and it usually blooms at end of spring and again later in the summer.

I lived in a home where this bush grew in the southern part of the yard, It was 10 feet high and always bloomed in mid May. I have just taken a cutting and hope I can root it. i have zero experience in propagating. any help would be appreciated

This is a very beautiful care-free plant.

i live in kentucky,in our area this tree grows in the yards of almost everyone,but when i got my own home i didnt have one so i had starting asking around trying to find out where to get one or could just collect seeds off some of my gradmas tree,but there was no seeds,anyway i will get to the end of my story.i found out how to get your own tiny tree started find your favorite type of this tree get a 5 gallon bucket or some kind of pot fill it with dirt set it the bottom of the tree where a branch drops down stick the end of the branch in the bucket of dirt add some miracle grow and in a short while you will have a small tree started in your bucket then cut the branch attached to the orignal tree and transplant your tree thats in the bucket wherever you want.

I remember this plant from my Grannys garden. She let hers grow into a small tree. I keep mine in bush form :)

I bought my house last may and this bush is higher than my house and covered with blooms. I didn't care for the dead look of the snowballs afterwards. I also had about 5 blooms on it in the fall. Tennessee will get cold and then warm back up. maybe it was confused

We bought a house in NY in the dead of winter, and were pleased when this "bush" started blooming this spring. Even though the bloom time is listed as mid summer, it was COVERED with white "snow balls" the second week of May. I clipped some, and kept them on the kitchen table for a week before they started dropping tiny blooms. My only sadness, this bush has zero smell.

We found this tree growing in our garden in Suffolk, on the eastern side of England, 20 years ago. It has thrived amidst conifer hedging, despite being savagely cut back and damaged by some guys trying to lop an adjacent cherry tree. We live in the warmest driest part of the UK, and the tree is well sheltered by others around it. However, ours never has berries, whereas I have read in some accounts that it should have red berries in the autumn. Is this so?

APHIDS are the only problem with this plant. I would appreciate any info on getting rid of these nuisances. Otherwise I love it! We have it planted next to a Japanese Maple and it looks lovely. I keep it trimmed down to maintain the desired height of the bed, two - three feet.

We just bought a house somewhat south of Macon, GA and have at least two of the snowball bushes. Yes, the aphids love them! There are several acres and used to be beautiful, and I am just now 'uncovering' a lot of gardening treasures. The snowball bush closest to the house is adjacent to the kitchen. I cut out all the dead wood, and used a good all-purpose fertilizer. Have also been dumping coffee grounds around it..is this positive or negative?!?! One snowball bush is near a fig tree which I liberally dosed with epsom salts..is this going to harm the bush?! I hope not!! For the aphids..I moved from central FL and there is used the CLEAR dishwashing liquid mixed with water in a sprayer attached to the hose. This discouraged the aphids and enriched the soil, or so the Garden Rebel on television there in FL said! It certainly did help my legustrum hedge and hybiscus plants as well as others! Any tips about the snowball bush is appreciated!!

Bought this plant about three years ago. In 2002 it had some blooms and was growing tall so I topped it at about seven feet. In the spring of 2003 it had 40 big snowballs that were so heavy that I had to tied them to a stake. Now, in November 2003 the plant has grown to about 15' and has some flat top blooms on the tips of some of the branches. I hope this late season blooming doesn't take away from the snowballs next spring. Has anyone had experience with this replant reblooming in the fall?

I have one in my backyard growing in sun/part shade. I have pruned it every year after blooming to keep a more compact form. I have noticed that after blooming aphids go after the new growth. the only way I combatted this was to spray with a garden hose. Eventually they go away. It is the very first bloom for me in the spring. Beautiful blooms, nothing else can compete.

This plant looks exactly like a plant from my childhood we called "Snowball" bush. The plants grew in my Grandmother's and my Aunt's sandy yards in Southcentral Georgia, near Macon, and when in full bloom their arching branches were so covered in blossoms that the flowers' weight brought the branches down to the ground.

I have been trying to find a specimen of this plant for years, but am having difficulty identifying it because it could also be Viburnum carlcephalum, the "Fragrant Snowball," which is about six to 10 feet tall, with fragrant, long lasting flowers in Spring.

In the late 1990's I found a huge old Snowball bush living vitrually neglected at an old homesite that had been turned into a trailer park in the outskirts of Macon, Georgia, and tried to take tip cuttings, but wasn't successful.

'Roseum,' which is a sterile variety of Viburnum opulus, the European Cranberry Bush, is noted for its arching branches, so I think at this point I would be happy to have either one growing in my Northcentral Florida, zone 8b yard.

Viburnums are a large, diverse group of bushes and some small trees especially beloved in the Southern USA. There are both native and imported species, and there are even some small, specialty plant nurseries in the Atlanta, Georgia area that only grow viburnums.

A cultivated variety of a species of Viburnum (V. opulus), bearing large bunches of white flowers; -- called also snowball tree.

This is one of my favorite flowering trees. The blossoms do resemble a fluffy snowball and can be quite large.